All That She Is
by Crow Skywalker
Summary: Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning. [WIP]
1. A New Beginning

All That She Is

Prologue – New Beginning

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. Neither do I own the movie "She's All That". They all belong to their respective owners.

Author's Notes – This series is going to be long...and I mean _long_. So long I probably will never finish it :P But for once in my life, I know exactly what's going to happen from beginning to end sooo...y'never know. As for the title, whoa! Not original, is it? lol

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – Take the characters of CCS, add a touch of "She's All That", and have a wacky storyline! Don't worry, it won't be exactly like the movie...otherwise Sakura wouldn't have to face off against...Hey! That's a secret, now isn't it? :P

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The bright sunlight of a new day made its way through the small window, and a small breeze gently made its way across the room, making the curtains flutter with it. The small room was filled with boxes and crates, each containing old memories waiting to be set free into their new surroundings. But these memories would have to wait, for their mistress was now asleep in her new bed, softly dozing in the morning sun.

"Sakura! It's time to get up! You don't want to be late for your first day at school!" Called a voice from downstairs, abruptly waking the girl. Her name was Sakura Kinomoto, daughter to Fujitaka Kinomoto and his deceased wife, Nadesiko. For those who knew her really well, she was also the Clow Mistress.

She vaguely remembered her past with the Cards as she slowly dragged herself out of bed, waking up the Guardian of The Seal, Kero, and also good friend in the process. She wasn't a morning person; and it showed.

__

School? She asked herself, her mind still asleep. She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on the room around her. _That's right...I'm starting school again._ She winced at the again part. An incident with a card in her old hometown had led her to destroying her school's gym, and she had been forever expelled afterwards, never to return. So her father had decided it was time for a change, and he had packed up their family and moved them all to Japan. In the mean time, she had had to explain to her family about the "Clow Cards" and her mission, including Kero, who could now fly around freely whenever he wanted to and not having to worry about being seen. 

At first her Father and Brother had thought she was insane. First she blew up a gym, and now she was trying to tell them that she had magical powers and that some 'Cards' had minds of their own? Needless to say that the first thing they had done after the incident was bring her to see a doctor. She had insisted there was nothing wrong with her, and even the doctor had confirmed it. Arriving home, she finally introduced her small companion, Kero, to the family. They had been shocked that a 'stuffed toy' could talk, and he soon proved to Touya that he was indeed no 'stuffed animal' by biting his finger. 

As the realization set in, she finally told the whole story of how she had found the cards amongst her Father's old books, and had 'accidentally' set the cards free. Since then, and a few years later, she was still capturing cards, and she explained how she was fighting a more powerful one when it had backfired, bringing down the gym with it. Both her Father and Brother found all of this hard to believe, but soon let it all set in. Now that she was sixteen, going on seventeen, she could handle things herself, and they both had realized that their little Cherry Blossom had grown up and didn't need their protection anymore. However, with this new move and new environment, her Father hoped that the whole 'Clow' business was over, and she could continue living a normal life with a fresh start.

But moving wouldn't stop Sakura's destiny of being the Clow Mistress. As long as she had the Clow Book, the Cards would follow her, both drawn to her power and the book. And as long as they were free, reeking havoc in their path, she would be on the mission to catch them. As both her Guardians Kero and Yue had told her, this was her destiny, and only she could fulfill it.

Climbing out of the shower, she wrapped her shoulder length hair up in a towel and hurried off to her room to get dressed. She now stood in front of her mirror, trying to figure out what dress to wear for the first day of school. Holding up a short blue dress, she studied herself in front of the mirror before pulling out another dress. This one was a light pink, and as she held it in front of her and peered at her reflection, she finally made her decision. She would go with the pink dress.

A knocking on her door caught her attention, and she held the towel closer to her body, knowing full well that the person was her father. Her brother, Touya, wouldn't have knocked before entering.

"Yes, Dad?" She called, letting him know that it was safe to enter.

He smiled at her for a moment, before he noticed the pink dress in her hand. "I hope you're not planning on wearing that, Sakura. I don't know if I forgot to mention it to you, but the school protocol says that all students must wear the school uniform."

Sakura's mouth dropped open. "Protocol? So I have to dress in some stupid outfit that everyone in the entire school will be wearing?"

He nodded in reply, before holding something up in his hand. "I came to give you this. It's your new school uniform."

Sakura frowned, obviously disappointed, but took the item from her Father anyway. "Thanks, Dad."

As her Father shut the door, she reluctantly put on the outfit. It looked like any other normal schoolgirl outfit, both the top and skirt being a shade of black, and a white collar that she guessed was supposed to stick out. Checking herself out once again in the mirror, she finally decided that the outfit was okay, and maybe she could get used to it. She then finished up, drying her hair and adding the last touches by combing out her banks and setting her hair the way she liked it.

"It sure takes you a long time to get dressed," Muttered the small version of Cerebos, who had been hiding underneath the unmade sheets of her bed while she got dressed. "Do all normal teenagers take this long?"

"Kero-Chan," Sakura sighed, rummaging through her stuff for her book bag, "Do you know what I did with my –" She looked up to see Kero's small arm pointing towards the door, and she followed his gaze to her book bag. "Thanks Kero-Chan!" She cried, making a run for the door and grabbing her book bag on her way.

It was Kero's turn to sigh. "That girl will never learn."

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"Is that the kaijuu making all that racket coming down the stairs?" An older boy asked himself while he leaned over the stove, cooking breakfast. His name was Touya, and he was Sakura's older brother.

"I'm not a kaijuu!" Insisted Sakura as she slid to a halt and sat at the table. "And stop calling me that! I'm not a little kid anymore."

Touya smiled to himself, flipping a pancake onto a plate and handing it to Sakura, who was still glaring at him. As she dug into her meal, pouring extra maple serape so that the pancakes were floating in it, he reached down and ruffled her hair. "You'll always be my little sister, and therefore you'll always be a kaijuu." Grinning, he returned to the stove as their father entered the kitchen.

"Sakura! Why didn't you tell me your family were cooking pancakes for breakfast?" Squealed a voice, and everyone turned to see a starry-eyed Kero, a puddle of drool collecting on the floor beneath him.

Sakura sweatdropped, "Sorry Kero-chan, I didn't know..."

"That's right...you all sit down here eating while my poor stuffed body wastes away.." He cried fake tears, causing everyone to sweatdrop.

"Don't worry Kero," Smiled Mr. Kinomoto, "I'm sure there's enough left for you."

"All right!" The small animal yelled, making his way over to the table, where Touya pulled out another plate and staked it with pancakes, almost getting his finger bit off as the bottomless pit of a Guardian dove into it.

Ignoring the scene before him, Mr. Kinomoto sat down at the end of the table and took out the morning newspaper. After reading through the first few headlines, one caught his eye. "Mysterious fires damage local park." He read, "People claim the flames are coming out of nowhere.." He frowned, turning the page. "Sounds to me like the teens are up to something, if you ask me."

Sakura nodded, glancing at Kero, who was busily stuffing his mouth. If he isn't worried, then I shouldn't be either. She smiled, her gaze turning back to her Father. "I'm sure that's all it is. You know how us teens can be."

Mr. Kinomoto looked over the paper at his little girl, before laying it down on the table. "I know that, and that's why I want you to be careful. No more Clow business, at least for a while. I don't want to see my little girl hurt.."

"Don't worry Otousan, I'll be very careful." She smiled again, getting up from the table and putting her dishes in the sink.

"You ready squirt?" Asked her brother, who was heading out the door. Ever since Sakura could remember, her and her brother had walked or rode to school together, and she was glad because she had no idea where her new school was located. According to her brother, the high school was fairly close to where he was going to collage.

Picking up her book bag, she nodded, and hugged her father goodbye before she strapped on her trusty roller blades and started out the door, hurrying to catch up with her brother who was now far ahead of her, riding his bike.

"Touya-san! Wait up!" She called, skating faster.

"I can't help it if you're a slow kaijuu!" He called back, and her anger made her skate faster and harder.

"I'm not a kai-!" She never got to finish before she rammed into someone, knocking both of them down.

Her brother stopped and turned the bike around, going back to check on her. "Not only are you a slow kaijuu, but a clumsy one too." He stated, looking down at her.

She groaned, lifting herself to her knees and rubbing the back of her head. "Maybe this will teach me to look where I'm going next time." Finally looking up, she noticed the person she had ran into. "Sorry!" She cried, jumping to her feet and holding out a hand to help him up. "I wasn't watching where I was going!"

"It's okay," Said a voice, and Sakura froze when she saw the face of the person she'd just practically run over. It was a guy, who looked about the same age as her brother, only his hair was a silver gray color and to Sakura, he looked much, **much** more handsome then her brother. "I can be blamed for this too. I was in such a hurry I never saw you coming." He smiled, taking her hand as she helped him up.

Sakura blushed, turning a deep shade of red at the contact. Never in her life had she seen someone so – it made her heart skip and jump just by looking at him. Still holding on to his hand, she stared up at him. _There's something about him..._

"I'm sure it's more of the kaijuu's fault." Stated her brother from somewhere behind her, snapping her out of her trance. Angrily, she turned to give her brother a piece of her mind, but stopped when the silver haired boy held out his hand to her brother.

"Hi, my name is Yukito." He smiled, "You must be new. I haven't seen you around before."

Touya took his hand and introduced himself. "I'm Touya Kinomoto, and this is my little sister Sakura." He stated, shooting Sakura one of his looks as he gestured to her. "We just moved here. Hey, you wouldn't know where the college is around here, would you? That and the high school, where Sakura here will be going? We haven't really had the chance to look around and find out where everything is..."

"You're in luck!" Grinned Yukito, glancing briefly at the young teenager, and then back to her brother. The girl seemed to behold a strange power...and a pink aura glowed brightly around her. _Is she the one?_ He asked himself mentally, before replying, "I'm heading to Tomoeda College right now. The High school is right next to it too." He smiled, returning his gaze to the young girl. _I'll have to keep an eye on that one..._

"Great!" Brightened Sakura, "Thank you so much! Touya here probably would have gotten us lost if we never had bumped into you!" 

"And you would have probably ran over a few more pedestrians out walking." Her brother shot back.

Smiling, Yukito continued his way to school, the two siblings behind him bickering the whole way.

Stopping in front of a large white building, Yukito waited for them to catch up. When they finally did, Yukito pointed towards it. "This, I believe, is your stop Sakura."

"Whoa." Sakura stopped and stared at it in awe. "This place is a whole lot bigger than my old school!"

"Don't worry about it Sakura," Said Touya, "I'm sure you'll manage to fit in."

Yukito nodded. "People in Tomoeda are very nice. I'm sure you'll make a bunch of friends by the end of the day."

"Thanks guys!" Sakura exclaimed, waving as she stepped inside the gates and followed the other teenagers that were entering. "Have a good day!"

With that, Touya and Yukito continued their journey to the college next door, leaving Sakura to her very first day at school.

To Be Continued...


	2. Bet

All That She Is

Chapter One – Bet

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. Neither do I own the movie "She's All That". They all belong to their respective owners.

Author's Notes – Whoa...finished chapter one...what progress, lol

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – Sakura arrives at school, only to find that she's totally lost. Meanwhile, the gang are hanging upstairs...

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"So Meiling really broke up with you over the summer?" Asked a girl with long dark hair.

Beside her, a boy with amber eyes shrugged, and continued to watch the people gather around the school. "Its no big deal, Tomoyo." He sighed, leaning against a bar and eyeing the crowd more closely. He didn't want to meet Meiling just yet – not after she dumped him for some guy she had met on the beach during summer break. "She was my cousin anyway...it was just..kinda weird, really."

The girl, Tomoyo, nodded. "But she spent all those years trying to get you to go out with her...and finally, when you agreed, you didn't even last a whole month."

"Maybe I'm not meant to find the right girl." The boy sighed.

Tomoyo was about to say something, but was interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around her possessively, and a murmur in her ear of "Hey Tomoyo-chan."

"Eriol-kun!" She giggled, leaning back against him, "When did you get here?"

"Just then." He smiled, "And I've already heard the news." He stated, gaze turning to the other boy, who smacked his hand against his forehead.

"Don't tell me!" " He cried, "Everyone knows what happened with me and Meiling?"

Eriol nodded in answer.

"Why me?" He sighed.

"Syaoran-kun, I'm sure there's plenty of other fish in the sea!" Tomoyo tried to assure him. "You just have to look harder."

From behind her, Eriol's keen senses started to pick up on something down below them. Gently letting go of Tomoyo, he moved over to the railing and stared down at the people entering and leaving the building below. The feeling was getting stronger – and he had an idea of what it was. _My Card Mistress_, Eriol smiled, spotting a lovely girl down below who had just entered. I knew that she would turn up sooner or later, He nodded in approval, but I never expected her to be such a sight.

Straightening up, he continued to eye her. _Now that she's arrived in Tomoeda with the Clow Cards, the Judgement will follow. Yue will show himself._ He smiled yet again at that idea. It was such an interesting thought_. I must get to know her better...I need to test her – to see if she's capable of handling the cards. However, she may need a bit of help with this one... _It was then that he got the idea, and so evilly glanced at Syaoran, who was a warrior and descendant of his. _Syaoran knows of the Clow Cards, and will be of great help to her. If only..._

"Tomoyo-chan's right." Said Eriol, a plan taking place. "There's many more fish in the sea. In fact, girls are always dying to go out with him, so I don't see a problem. Syaoran could have any girl he wanted."

His rather large ego taking over, Syaoran smiled. "You're right!" He declared, turning and looking out over all the people, "I could have any girl I wanted on these very school grounds."

Eriol's smile grew wider. His dear descendant had fallen for his trick. "How about we make a bet?"

"Oh really Eriol-kun, you shouldn't get his hopes up like that." Came a voice, and they turned to face Meiling.

"Meiling.." Tomoyo started, but was soon interrupted.

"Guys, I want you to meet my new boyfriend, Yamato."

A boy with blonde hair stepped out from behind Meiling, and Syaoran glared at him. She's doing this on purpose...to embarrass me. I never thought that Meiling could be like this...but after the break up we had..

"Nice to meet you." Said Eriol, slightly annoyed that his plan had been ruined – or had it?

"Yes, nice." Meiling frowned slightly. "Greetings and all. But you see, me and Yamato don't have time to chit chat." She said, pulling Yamato closer and kissing him passionately. "You see, me and Yamato have better things to do. I just thought I'd give you my opinion and all, since I was walking by."

"Well for your information," Syaoran spoke up, "Its not up to you if I date or not, and I most certainly can have any girl I want."

Yes! The bet was once again out in the open!

Turning to Eriol, Syaoran smiled and held out his hand. "I take that bet."

"But I get to choose the girl," Added Eriol, and then winked, "It makes it a lot harder."

"Fine with me," Answered Syaoran, "I'll still win her heart."

Shaking hands on it, Eriol smiled. "Now, to pick out the girl."

Turning to the railing once again, and ignoring the glares that Syaoran's cousin was giving him, Eriol pretended to look through the students below. He couldn't pick her right away, because it would seem a bit too obvious. Instead, he scanned the crowd, pretending to look for the right girl, with a nervous Syaoran by his side.

"There," He finally pointed towards his Clow Mistress, "She'll do."

Syaoran blinked and looked at her for the very first time. Short auburn hair, emerald green eyes...from the distance, she looked stunning, and Syaoran couldn't help wonder what she would be like up close. "I've never seen her before...is she new?"

Eriol shrugged. "She might be," He lied, "I haven't seen her before either. But by the way you're staring at her, I take it its love at first sight?"

Blushing, Syaoran backed away from the railing, and the image of an angel below them. "No, I was just trying to memorize her for when I make my move. I'll have her swept off her feet in no time!"

Somehow I doubt that, Eriol thought, glancing down at her once more. _She doesn't seem like the type to fall for you so easily. Although she might be good for you...you definitely need a good girl. For now, the plan is to get you two to meet..._ "Go for it, I say."

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Sakura was lost. She'd never been in such a big school before, with so many students. All around her people were moving, on their way to class. Being the new girl, and shy as she was, she felt very awkward in the crowd. Many of the people walked around her in groups, laughing and carrying on with her friends. Sakura was alone, and afraid to stop someone to ask where her homeroom was. So far she had only managed to find her locker that morning.

Silently watching the crowd around her, she let out a cry of surprise as someone bumped into her and her books went sprawling across the floor.

"Sorry!" Came a voice, and the person continued on his or her way.

Sighing, Sakura bent down to retrieve her books.

"Need some help?" Came a male voice from in front of her, and Sakura looked up to see the most handsomest boy she had ever seen. He had neatly brushed chestnut brown hair, and a pair of amber eyes that seemed to glow.

Before she could answer, he knelt down and helped pick up her books, flashing her a smile. "You're new here, aren't you?"

Sakura nodded, unable to find her voice.

"My name's Syaoran Li," He started, handing her books back to her, "What's yours?"

"Sakura Kinomoto." Stated the girl, a shy smile playing across her lips.

"Nice name." Syaoran smiled as they stood, "Sakura...is in Cherry Blossoms?"

Sakura nodded again. "Strange name, huh?"

"I think it's a great name. It suits you well."

Sakura blushed. "Thanks..I guess."

"Anyway, you looked kind of lost," Said Syaoran, lost in her emerald eyes as she gazed at him, "Is there anything else I can do to help?"

"Syaoran!" Cried a voice from behind him, and Sakura looked over up to see a girl with long black hair running towards them. "Syaoran-kun!"

Startled, Syaoran turned in time to get a armful of Meiling, who shot Sakura a nasty glare.

"Syaoran-kun, I need your help!" She said breathlessly, flashing him a knowing smile.

Syaoran frowned. "Meiling, what are you doing?"

From behind him, Sakura looked down at the ground, feeling ever so out of place.

"I thought you could walk me to class." Meiling pouted innocently.

"Meiling, you hate me, and I hate you too at the moment...so what's the purpose of all this?"

"Well..." Meiling whispered, "I can't let you win that bet, now can I?" She backed away, an evil smirk on her face, "Don't think this will be easy for you, Syaoran, because I'm going to make it _very_ hard on you. As for my purpose...well, I believe it worked very well." She looked over Syaoran's shoulder.

Syaoran quickly turned to see that Sakura had disappeared.

"Thanks a lot Meiling," Syaoran glared. "Thanks a lot."

With that, Syaoran stalked off as the bell sounded overhead, marking the beginning of classes.

Behind him, Meiling watched his back as he retreated off to class.

"You're welcome Syaoran." She smirked, and then headed off to class as well.

To Be Continued...


	3. Introductions

All That She Is

Chapter Two – Introductions

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever.

Author's Notes – The more I write, the more this fic strays away from the "She's All That" idea. I guess it's for the best, because you probably want more action and fun anyway ^_~ Next few chapters may be slow getting out, due to the fact that there's people staying at my house and I won't be using the computer all that much. That and I highly dislike having people reading over my shoulder and making nasty comments ^_^;; Oh! And yes, I do realize the characters are very...well, out of character. Had to do it ^^;

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – Introductions are made, and Sakura finds herself with three new friends...and one enemy.

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Sitting in an empty seat by the window, Sakura looked around the empty classroom. She had wandered off after watching Syaoran and that Meiling girl, who seemed to be very close – maybe even his girlfriend, and had stumbled upon her classroom by herself. It seemed that she had made it just in time, for the bell had sounded only moments before, and soon kids her age were piling into the room.

She watched as a girl with long dark hair entered the room, and sat across the aisle from her.

"My name is Tomoyo Daidouji, what's yours?" She asked, flashing a smile.

Sakura blinked at how friendly the girl seemed, and smiled back. "Sakura Kinomoto. I just moved here."

"I figured that." She said, fixing the books on top of her desk. "So how's it going so far? I mean, how do you like this school?"

"It's fine I guess..a lot different from my old school, but the people here seem to be really nice."

"So you've met some people here already?" Smirked Tomoyo knowingly.

Sakura nodded, a faint blush crossing her face. But before she could answer, a loud voice from out in the hall drew both their attentions.

"Meiling! Go away!"

Looking at the door, Sakura watched as the boy she had met in the hallway stormed in, followed by the girl as well.

"But Syaoran-kun! You always used to walk me to class!" Replied the girl, her eyes landing on Sakura. _Ohh, this is going to be _too_ easy!_

"That was before we –" Syaoran blinked, noticing the girl as well. Ignoring Meiling, he smiled at the new girl and headed in her direction.

"Syaoran-kun, have you met the new girl?" Asked Tomoyo, watching him.

"Sakura, right?" He asked, taking the seat behind her, "We met in the hallway."

Sakura nodded, remembering the awkward moment yet again. _He never did show me where the classroom was..._ She frowned slightly, watching the Meiling girl as she sat behind Tomoyo. _He's probably one of those jocks who think about sports and girls more than anything else._

"So I guess we'll all be spending the year together." Smiled Tomoyo, her eyes glancing from Sakura to Syaoran.

Behind her, Meiling rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately."

Before anyone could say much more, a boy with dark hair entered, and Sakura looked up. He was her age, of course, and wore glasses, but even with the school uniform on, Sakura felt herself blush. For some odd reason she felt herself drawn to him...but not because of his good looks, but because of a feeling she got deep down inside. Realizing that she was staring, Sakura quickly looked away as he approached.

"Good morning Eriol-kun," Smiled Tomoyo, who was once again smiling, "What took you so long to get to class? We've all been here for the past ten minutes."

Smiling back, the boy whom Sakura guessed was named Eriol sat down in front of her. "Had trouble with my locker combination. You know how my locker is..it's always giving me trouble."

Turning, the boy looked at Sakura and continued to smile. "I believe we haven't met," He started, holding out his hand, "My name is Eriol Hiiragizawa."

Blinking, Sakura took his hand expecting them to shake, but instead, the boy in front of her leaned down ever so slightly and kissed the back of her hand. Blushing furiously at this gesture, Sakura stared. "Sakura Kinomoto. It's nice to meet you."

"As it is a pleasure to meet you too." Answered Eriol, who could faintly see Syaoran behind the girl, glaring daggers at him.

"Well, it certainly seems that someone has their own fan club on the go." Came a voice.

At that remark, Sakura glanced sideways at the girl in the back. _Meiling...she certainly doesn't seem to like me. I wonder what her problem is...everyone I've met so far as been really nice. It's just her that seems to have a problem with me...whatever it is._

Before Sakura could ask her, a loud voice called out from the doorway to quiet down the class. She watched as students quietly filled the empty seats around her, and the chatter soon ended. When the class was finally totally quiet, a young woman entered and headed for the teacher's desk, gently laying down her books. And straightening out her navy blue dress, she finally stood to address the class. 

"Okay," She started, her eyes running over the class, "Before we start today, I'd like to introduce our newest addition to the class." Her eyes landed on Sakura. "Sakura, would you please stand up and tell us a little about yourself?" 

Standing, Sakura was met by cat calls, and she soon felt herself go red. The teacher hushed the class, and Sakura once again found her voice.

"Well, my name is Sakura Kinomoto, and I just moved here to Tomoeda. I live with my father, who's a college professor and is in to archeology, and my brother Touya, who's attending college right now."

"Thank you Sakura," Smiled the teacher as Sakura sat back down, "And might I add that you I hope you enjoy living here. My name is Mrs. Karasu, and I'll be your teacher for the rest of the school year."

The class droned on, and Sakura tried her best to pay attention. They seemed to be way ahead in their studies then Sakura was back in her old school, but she was sure she'd catch up sooner or later. So, settling down, she tried concentrating hard on her work. Nonetheless, she was happy when the bell rang signaling the beginning of lunch.

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"Eriol! What's the deal?" Syaoran whispered through gritted teeth, "How am I supposed to impress her if you're also flirting with her? Might I remind you, but you already have a girlfriend."

Picking up his books, Eriol smiled at the other boy. "You call that flirting? I was merely being polite."

Frowning, Syaoran followed his friend out of the class. "Well you don't have to be so good at it!"

Eriol chuckled at this. "So you're feeling threatened by my politeness?"

"No," Glared the other boy, who was opening his locker, "I just feel you should...you know, leave that stuff to me."

__

Ah, dear descendant...you have absolutely no clue, do you? Eriol put his own books away, and locked the locker that they shared. "If you wish"

"So, we're meeting the girls at the usual hang out?" Syaoran asked, changing the subject.

"Tomoyo-chan left with Sakura-chan to help her around the school. They'll meet up with us in the normal spot."

"Good." Smiled Syaoran, "Then I'll get to talk to her. She won't be able to resist me."

Sighing, Eriol shook his head. _No clue at all._

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"So let me get this right. I go up this hall, turn right, then continue down to the very end...and that's our classroom?"

Tomoyo nodded, and watched as Sakura put her things into her locker.

"I'm not sure what way I went this morning...but I know I walked around for a very long time trying to find it."

"It's not all that hard," Tomoyo added, "Just look for the drinking fountain..it's right next to our classroom."

Standing, Sakura brushed herself off. "Thanks Tomoyo-chan, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"No problem."

"So where's your locker to? I mean, you have to drop off your books and everything before we meet up with everyone else..right?" Sakura blinked, looking at her new friend.

"Oh, my locker isn't far from here." Answered Tomoyo as they continued down the hall, "I share it with Meiling."

"Oh." Sakura frowned slightly, remembering the girl.

Sensing the change in mood, Tomoyo decided to change the subject. "So what do you think of the guys?"

Sakura blushed at this question. "You mean the guys as in Syaoran-kun and Eriol-kun, or the guys as in all the guys?"

Stopping at a locker, Tomoyo began to unlock the lock, a small smile playing across her face. "As in Syaoran-kun and Eriol-kun."

The shade on Sakura's face turned a darker red. "They're okay...I mean, I don't really know them. They seem nice enough."

"Eriol-kun is just the best," Said Tomoyo as she placed a book tidily in her locker space, "We've been dating since we were small. It wasn't until a few years ago until we finally started going out. He's got a great sense of humor, he's funny, caring...although Syaoran-kun is another story."

"Oh?" Asked Sakura, interested.

Eyeing her friend, Tomoyo continued, "He seems very interested in you, Sakura-chan," She watched as her friend blushed even more, "And I'm only telling you this just so you won't get hurt. You seem like a very nice girl..although a bit naive and gullible, and I don't want you to get hurt. But Syaoran-kun isn't the kind of person you want to fall in love with."

"Love?" Sakura shook her head, "That has never happened to me...although I've _liked_ some people..never has it been love. I believe in finding the right person," She smiled, "And as you've guessed, I haven't found him." That and I don't interact with people all that well..with the Clow Cards and everything. Who knows what they'd do if someone found out there was such a thing as magic.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find him someday." Tomoyo smiled, and tried to close to door to the locker. "Ugh! Meiling's stuff is always making this so difficult!"

It was then that a leftover can of 7-up decided to tip over, and crashed noisily to the floor of the empty hallway. Both girls jumped back, but not before Tomoyo's skirt managed to get wet.

"Ohh...not again! Meiling always seems to find a way to mess up my clothes!" She slammed the door shut, and there were no more problems with it. "Sakura-chan, do you mind if we stop off to the girl's washroom?"

"Sure, let's go. I don't know where it is anyway, so this is my chance to find out."

----------

Sakura knew that this was a bad idea, even as she stepped into the bathroom and her friend hurried off to get some tissue to dab at the 7-up that was sinking in. As soon as she entered the bathroom, the conversation that had been going on suddenly stopped, and Sakura found herself staring into the fiery eyes of Meiling, who glared at her along with her other friends.

Tomoyo, who was busily wiping off her skirt, however noticed none of this. So, standing next to her friend, Sakura quietly stared at the sink.

"Well, well, well, look who it is...Mrs. Clumsy and her little newbie friend," Sneered Meiling in the mirror as Sakura watched, "How delightful." 

Turning, Tomoyo faced her calmly. "Do you have a problem, Meiling?"

"Not with you." She answered, her friends snickering behind her. "Although I do have a problem with _her_."

Turning, Sakura turned to face her as well. But before Sakura could answer, Tomoyo had grabbed hold of her and tried to pull her away.

"Come on Sakura-chan, we have to go find Eriol-kun and Syaoran-kun."

"That's right...run off." Giggled Meiling. "Just one little thing."

Sakura managed to stop Tomoyo for a minute, for Meiling to continue.

"Stay out of my way, Sakura, and I'll stay out of yours. Got it? And stay away from Syaoran. He's still my fiancée, whether he likes it or not."

Frowning, Sakura allowed Tomoyo to lead her out.

Stay away from Syaoran? Fiancée? 

Sakura was very confused.

To Be Continued...


	4. The School Day Continues

All That She Is

Chapter Three – The School Day Continues

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever.

Author's Notes – Yes, I do realize the characters are probably way OOC, but it's the only way to get through with this fic ^^; And yes, Meiling is being a total bitch, and I understand if some of you don't like that..but it's only for now. Meiling is my favorite character...you don't think I'd actually leave her like that, did you? ^^; Oh, and special thanks to those who have reviewed so far! It's the reviews that keep me going ^_^ The last chapter for a while. Don't worry, there will be lots of action in the chapters to come ^_~

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – The school day continues, and Sakura is only glad when it's over.

----------

Sakura was truly confused as she walked beside her new friend Tomoyo. _Stay away? Fiancée?_ Wasn't Meiling being just a tad bit over protective over her boyfriend? Because Sakura had no plans on taking Syaoran away from her, if that's what she meant. And fiancée? What was with that? Weren't they a bit young to be engaged?

Tomoyo must have seen her puzzled expression, because she soon broke the silence.

"Don't mind Meiling. She's just picking on you because you're new...although she can be a bitch most of the time." Tomoyo tried to explain, without hinting the real reason, "And she's a bit over protective of her cousin."

Sakura stopped and blinked in more confusion. "Cousin?"

"Yeah...her and Syaoran-kun are cousins," Tomoyo explained, "They're were really close too...although not anymore."

"But she said he was her fiancée..."

"Which is true, at least it was until they broke up...but she most likely still wants to marry him. That's why she said for you to stay away."

"But isn't that kind of..."

"Incesty?" Tomoyo finished for her, "Well, the marriage was arranged by their families when they were only small children..so there's not much they can do about it now."

Sakura nodded, although she was even more confused then she already was before.

"So they're not really together?"

Tomoyo eyed her friend, hoping she wasn't getting any ideas, "They broke up over the summer – a nasty break up, too."

"Oh...from the way she was acting around him, I figured they were an item."

"Not anymore." Stated Tomoyo as they rounded a corner, "But as I said, she's trying to keep him away from other girls, especially after the be-" She stopped herself before she went any further. That morning Syaoran had made her promise not to tell anyone else about the bet, and especially not to tell Sakura. Although Tomoyo really wished that she could, so that her new friend wouldn't wind up being hurt, but a promise was a promise. But that didn't stop her from warning Sakura to stay away from him also. If the bet did manage to pull off, then what would Syaoran do when he was finished with her? Drop her? Break her heart? Tomoyo was convinced she wasn't going to let that happen, and by warning Sakura, she hoped that it wouldn't.

Lucky for her, Sakura hadn't seemed to hear the last bit, and they had arrived at the special 'meeting' place. Syaoran was the first to notice them, and stood smiling as his gaze landed on Sakura.

"What took you so long?" He asked, directing the question to Tomoyo, "We've been sitting here for almost twenty minutes waiting for you."

Rolling her eyes, Tomoyo stepped past him and went to the rail to look down at the passing students underneath. From where she was, the slight breeze and warm sun was comforting after walking through the darkened and dusty school. "Sorry, we had a run in with Meiling."

"Meiling seems to have grown a problem over the summer." Eriol stated, standing next to Tomoyo as she gazed over the cheerful school grounds. His gaze followed Sakura, who seemed slightly uncomfortable and sat a distance away. "I hope she hasn't left a bad impression, has she?" He asked her.

Shaking her head, Sakura smiled. "Not really. There's always a bad one, no matter where you go." She sighed, "I just wish I knew why she hates me so much...I haven't really _done_ anything for her not to like me...have I?"

"Oh Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said softly as she left Eriol's side, "I told you not to worry about it! Meiling has her own problems to sort out."

It was then that Tomoyo noticed something – out of the corner of her eye, she saw Syaoran staring silently at Sakura, as if at a loss with words. She raised an eye at this, but decided to let any thoughts on it go. Although, with the bet and all, she expected Syaoran to be making his moves.

Behind her, Eriol had noticed this too, and as the conversation between Sakura and Tomoyo went on, he continued to watch the other boy. _Syaoran-kun..this is very amusing. At a loss of words, are we? But I must admit, she does look rather beautiful with the sun shining down on her like that...quiet angelic. But I never expected you to be quiet speechless...maybe my little plan will work after all._ "I believe your drooling, Syaoran-kun," He whispered as he passed him and sat next to the pretty Cherry Blossom, joining in on the conversation, and noted the blush that spread across his descendant's face.

__

Drooling? Syaoran mentally shook his head, his gaze finally leaving Sakura_. I am not! Why would I drool over someone like her? The sooner I get this bet over with, the sooner..._his thoughts drawled on, as his eyes once again managed to focus on the pretty girl in front of him. _Although there's something strange about her...something I can't quite put my finger on...a familiar feeling..a power that I've sensed before..._

----------

"Sakura! Over here!"

Sakura looked around, trying to find out who was shouting out to her, and finally spotted her brother on his bike, waiting for her. Beside him, the boy that they had met this morning – or rather, the boy that she had ran over.

"Touya-san! Yukito-san!" She waved happily.

It had been a rather long day of school, and Sakura was glad that it was over. _Hopefully tomorrow will be better_, she thought, picking up her book bag in which she had laid down while she waited for her brother.

"I take it that's your brother?" Asked Eriol, picking up his stuff as well. The group had agreed to wait with Sakura, just in case her brother didn't show up.

Nodding, Sakura smiled. "He can be a pain in the ass at times, but he's still a great brother."

Frowning, Syaoran stared at the silver haired boy, a strange feeling in the bit of his stomach. "Who's the other guy?"

"Oh, that's Yukito-san. Touya and I met him this morning on the way to school. He's really nice. In fact, he's the one who showed us where the schools were." Said Sakura, staring at him from across the school yard, blushing slightly as she strapped on her skates.

Syaoran's frown deepened at this.

"Anyway," Sakura continued, "I've got to go. Thanks for waiting with me!"

Smiling, Sakura bid her goodbyes, and quickly bladed across the yard to meet up with the two older boys.

"How was your day, Sakura-chan?" Asked Yukito, smiling.

"It was okay I guess," Sakura blushed, "I made a few new friends."

"That's good to hear."

Sakura lazily skated slowly so that she could talk to the handsome Yukito, while her brother biked not too far away. All in all, the trip home was quiet nice, even though her brother had a few mean comments here and there. Upon reaching a rather large gate, Yukito told them this was his stop, and Sakura smiled and waved as her and her brother continued their journey home.

"Kero-chan!" Sakura called as she entered the house, making sure to take off her roller blades and place them somewhere where she could find them, "Are you awake?"

"He's probably already eaten us out of house and home." Mumbled Touya from behind her.

"Sakura-chan!" Came a voice, and a small bear-like figure was soon attached to Sakura. "I'm starved! What did you bring me to eat?"

Sweatdropping, Sakura laid down her back pack and tried to pry the little animal off herself. "Kero-chan! There's lots of food here in the house!"

"Yes," The little animal stated, looking a bit desperate, "But Fujitaka-san forbid me from eating everything...and," He sniffed dramatically, "There's absolutely no sweets in this house!"

"Maybe that's because you've eaten them all," Commented Touya, as he sat down and switched on the television.

Shooting Touya a look, Kero continued to plead with Sakura.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you what," She smiled, "After supper I'll go to the store and buy you a whole load of treats! Okay?"

Happy with this, Kero shouted with joy and floated off to join Touya in watching television.

Sighing, Sakura went about doing her chores, not knowing that she was being watched.

Across the street, unseen by everyone, three magical figures disappeared.

To Be Continued...

A/N – Just on another note, since some of you may not read the one above, I'd like to say that all comments and ideas are welcome. If you have a good idea for something that might happen in this fic, or even the next chapter, then feel free to tell me. I'll make sure I think it over, and I might even use it. I could go on and on with this fic, and might never write what you people want, so tell me what you want to happen! ^_^ You may leave it as a review, or email it to me at erin_driscoll72@hotmail.com Thanks, and I hope that you enjoy the fic! ^_^


	5. Return of The Firey

All That She Is

Chapter Four – Return of The Firey

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever.

Author's Notes – This chapter is a lot longer than the others ^^; And for now, the "She's All That" plot is getting further and further away. Don't worry though, it'll continue later...although a lot different from the movie. As of now, its time for a bit of rivalries, as you'll see in this chapter and future ones to come ^_~ Please r/r, I was up until late at night trying to finish this chapter x.x; It would make me feel a lot better if I got a few more reviews...and special thanks to those who are reviewing already! You're really helping...and I wouldn't have gotten this far without you ^_^ And I know I've been saying that "this is the last chapter for a while", but **this** might be the last ^^; Due to the fact that there's been some changes when my mom's annoying boyfriend's son comes to town _; I can't write during then because he hogs the computer sooo..you know. We'll see o.o;

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – After getting lost looking for the store, both Sakura and Kero find themselves up against The Firey Card – once again.

----------

After finishing eating supper, and happily doing the dishes while her Father went upstairs for a nap, and Touya unpacked, Sakura was now headed to the closet to get her jacket. She had promised Kero that the would go out and get him some snacks, in which she was about to do. But before she could even haul on her coat, the small yellow animal with wings was floating in front of her, mouth open in a grin.

"Sakura-chan! Are you going out to get me more snacks now?" He asked eagerly, helping her get her arm through the other sleeve of her jacket, "Because I want to go and help pick out what I want!"

Sighing, Sakura ended up stuffing him into her coat pocket, and after telling her Father where she was going, she grabbed the keys and headed out the door.

It was only until they had walked around the block several times that she realized that she had no clue where she was going.

"Sakura-chan...we're lost, aren't we?" Came a muffled voice from within her pocket, and Kero's head soon poked out.

"Kero-chan!" She hissed, stuffing him back in, "People might see you!"

Breaking free of her grasp, Kero fly out of her pocket and hovered in the air in front of her. "Sakura-chan..it's dark out! Who's going to see me?"

After looking around, Sakura finally noticed that the streets seemed to be empty, and the only light came from a few dim street lights.

"Okay, Kero-chan..you can stay out as long as you keep quiet."

"How am I supposed to keep quiet when we're lost?" He asked, raising a tiny eyebrow and crossing his arms. "We'll never get my snacks at this rate."

"Don't worry, Kero-chan," Whispered Sakura as they continued down the street and past a rather large park, "The store has to be around here somewhere...I mean, I went past it this morning on my way to school!" _Although at the time, I was much more interested in something else...or should I say, someone else.._she thought, blushing slightly at the picture of Yukito in her head. Out of all the boys she had met that day, Yukito was the only one she seemed to hold a fascination for.

"Sakurrraaa-chan? Sakkuurrraaa-chan? Are you even looking for the store??" Yelled a voice, and Sakura snapped out of it to find Kero glaring at her, his small hands on his hips.

Blushing even more, Sakura stopped. "Sorry Kero-chan..I guess I got caught up in my thoughts."

With small tears in his eyes, Kero grabbed hold of her. "What can be more important than my snacks??"

Sighing, Sakura looked around. Wherever she was, it was very unfamiliar.

"Hey Kero-chan...you know, maybe we took a wrong turn," She started, turning towards the park, "Lets cut across this park and see if I can find out where we are."

Silently floating in the air, Kero eyed the park. "I don't know Sakura-chan...should we really be cutting across a large park at night? Who knows what kind of weirdoes could jump out at you!"

"Oh come on Kero-chan...you can protect me! Plus I've got the cards here in my pouch." She smiled.

Grinning with self confidence, Kero held out his arms and tried to show off his small muscles. "You know what Sakura-chan? Maybe you're right!"

Giggling, she grabbed Kero by the wing before he could become even more full of himself, and started to drag him through the air and into the park, their path getting less and less light as they continued their way. However, Sakura was indeed happy to see that the park was completely empty, and she would not being Kero's help after all, what little he could give.

They made it safety to the other side of the park, and Sakura was relieved that she could see light through the think foliage around them. She was even more relived when she looked across the deserted street and spotted a store.

"Well, it's not the same one I passed this morning, but it'll have to do."

"A store is a store..either way, they carry snacks, treats and other sweets." Agreed Kero happily, taking his place back in her pocket.

Entering the store, it didn't take long for the woman behind the counter to think that Sakura was totally nuts, and Sakura couldn't blame her. Every time Kero found something he wanted, he would cry out and point, once both he and Sakura were out of sight. They may have been out of sight, but Kero's voice could sure be heard. Even as Sakura went up to the counter, she could see the weird looks the woman was giving her. Cashing her things in, Sakura quickly grabbed her things and left.

"Kero-chan! I thought I told you to be quiet once we entered the store!"

But Kero had already grabbed a tart and had it stuck in his mouth. In between chews he managed to get out "Couldn't...help it...too..many..tastey..things..to..try."

Sweatdropping, Sakura managed to poke the rather large bag into a bigger section of her pouch. "No more treats until we get home." She looked around. "If we can find our way home."

"Maybe we should," He stopped to lick his mouth, "Go back the way we came. We're bound to find our way home sooner or later."

Nodding, and with Kero by her side, she made her way back towards the darkness of the forest path. She hadn't even stepped on the stone path before Kero stopped, looking around nervously.

"Sakura-chan...something isn't right. I sense something here that wasn't here before.."

Sakura, too, found herself looking around. "Is it a Clow Card?"

Kero floated foreword silently, and Sakura followed close behind. It wasn't until they seemed to be in a wide open space did something finally happen.

A whooshing noise came from above, and Sakura just enough time to jump out of the way as a ball of fire flew past her, and hit the ground, bursting into an even bigger flame as it caught on the grass.

"Sakura-chan...I believe The Fiery has returned." Came Kero's small voice from beside her.

----

__

"Kero-Chan...What was that?"

The hardwood floor burst into flames in no time.

"Sakura...It's The Fiery!" Called a voice, somewhere behind the wall of flame.

Sakura quickly called forth her Sealing Wand, and stood ready for whatever the card had in plan for her. She winced, looking at the floor as it burned – after cheerleading practice she had wanted to stay behind to practice the routine some more, and this was what it had led to? She was surely going to get in trouble for this one..

Looking up, Sakura watched as Kero flew over the flames to join her. "The Firey is one of the four elements, Sakura-chan," He gasped, trying to get his breath, "So this capture is going to be a hard one."

"I'm sure I can handle it." Stated Sakura confidently. __

But she had been a little too_ confident in her abilities. Everything she threw at it seemed to suck up – even The Watery seemed to have no effect on it. Sakura soon found that she was trying to win a losing battle. There seemed to be nothing she could do, and finally Kero and her had to forfeit, and run for their lives as the rest of the gym turning into a smoldering hot hell._

---- 

The gym had burned down that night, Sakura remembered, and that had been the reason she was expelled from her old school, and her family found out about her new career as a Card Captor. They had been forced to move – and now The Firey had caught up with them.

Frowning, Sakura took out her magical key, which she had received, from Kero the night she had first opened the Book of Clow.

Closing her eyes, she held it up, and began to chat of that in which would turn it into the Sealing Wand. "Oh Key of Clow, Power of magic, Power of light...Surrender the wand, The force ignite!...Release!"

A glow of light surrounded her, and the key expanded into the wand. Opening her eyes, she faced the glowing ball of fire. It seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move, and so it sat there, burning into the ground below it.

"Sakura-can...Be careful!" Kero advised, glaring at the ball of fire, "You know how tough this card is already."

Nodding, she glared too, but the fire seemed to have decided that it already had waited too long, and Sakura soon found fire balls blasting at her from all directions. She skillfully dodged and jumped them, trying to figure out a strategy in her head, although none came to her. How was she to beat a card that from her point of view, couldn't be beaten?

"Sakura-chan! Do something!" Cried Kero, nearly dodging a fire ball himself.

"I...I can't!" She gasped, trying to catch her breath.

Finally making his way to safety away from the ground, Kero stopped to watch the battle below – which his Mistress was once again losing. _Sakura-chan...I can't help you with this one. Not even _I_ know what to do...just please figure it out soon, and stop The Firey before to burns everything in sight._ He watched as Sakura continued to dodge the attacks, and then it finally dawned on him. "Sakura! It's trying to tire you out! Be careful!"

But Sakura couldn't hear over the roar of the fire, and she soon collapsed in exhaustion, breathing heavily. She watched in terror as the fire closed in around her, closing off all escapes so that she was trapped, beaten and tired. Closing her eyes, she tried to ignore the fact that fresh air was getting less and less, and her surroundings were getting hotter and hotter. _I'm sorry Kero-chan...I think this is it for me...I'm sorry I couldn't be a better Clow Mistress..._

All of a sudden she felt strong arms wrap around her, and fresh air flooded her lungs as she felt herself being lifted. Coughing, she felt herself being lowered back down onto the ground, although in a different place. She was saved...well, at least for now. Saved by...she managed to open her eyes, and found herself staring into the amber eyes of..._Syaoran?_

She wondered if she was seeing things right...was that really Syaoran dressed in those long green robes with the golden outlines and the Chinese symbols? Or was she imagining her savior to be him...or..? This was fairly confusing.

"Sakura...what do you think you're doing out here? You could have died in that fire!"

Standing, Syaoran turned and faced the object of discussion, which had once again grown still, waiting for them to make the first move. And taking advantage of this, Syaoran took his chance. Reaching for some hidden object around his neck, Sakura watched as a sword appeared in Syaoran's hands.

The fire all of a sudden attacked, and in an attempt to damage it, Syaoran leapt over it skillfully, slicing the sword through the middle of it. However, the fame felt nothing as he did so, and reached up with a fiery-like hand, grasping Syaoran by the ankle, who soon found himself thrown into a tree.

"Syaoran!" Sakura was now sitting eyes wide and staring at the boy. _What does he think he's doing?_

A flicker out of the corner of her eye made her look up in time to see the fire take a step towards her.

"Sakura! Run!" He cried.

No more running, she thought, I have to do this... standing on shaky legs, Sakura glared at the thing approaching her. No more running...this is going to be finished once and for all... She felt the Sealing Wand in her hand, its smooth coolness somewhat soothing. Holding it in front of her, she waited for the Card's first move.

As she expected, it attacked, and she quickly pulled one of her most faithful cards from her pouch. Throwing it into the air, a circle of light glowed around her.

"Fly Card!" She called, an unseen wind blowing through her hair, "Release and dispell!"

Before her eyes her Sealing Wand grew large wings, and she was swept off her feet as the fire ball crashed into the ground she was just standing on. She flew up high before she finally stopped, and circled the area.

Below her, Syaoran stared up at her in disbelief. _She can't be....No! It can't be true!_ He suddenly glared at the girl above him, and then looked away_. The Clow Cards have been part of my family for years, and have been handed down generation by generation. How can this girl control them? I...I was sent here to find them after they disappeared...and now that I have... _He looked up, watching the girl once again, _What am I supposed to do?_

He hadn't much thought on that after, because he soon realized that the Card was approaching him.

Up above, Sakura was once again going through strategies in her head. None of them seemed to be any good. Frowning, she looked down at the scene below once again. Syaoran was fighting to stand...while the Card...

"Oh no.."

But before she could start to fly back down, a shouting of "...Release the light! Lightning!" and a loud crackling sound filled the air. She blinked staring at Syaoran, whom seemed to be the one who had caused the burst of sparks that had merely stopped the Card for a moment. He soon fell back down, unable to do anything more but watch as the monster neared him.

Making a fast dive, Sakura soon had both feet back on the ground, standing in between the Card and the fallen Syaoran, and holding her wand in front of her protectively.

"Kero-chan!" She called, eyes wandering the park ground. Where was he?

"Yes Sakura-chan?" He asked, finally appearing from his hiding place – since he couldn't be much help in the state of form he was in.

"I...I can't stop it," She admitted, "It's too strong."

"It's strong Sakura-chan...so you have to be stronger!" Advised Kero. "Expect the unexpected!"

"Expect the unexpected.." She whispered to herself..."I have to be stronger...but how can I be? Unless.."

"Fly Card! Return to your powers combined!"

Her wand glowed, the large wings disappearing, and formed a Card, which neatly flew back into the pouch of it's owner.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing?" Kero exclaimed, eyes wide, "You'll have less chance of escape that way!"

She ignored his comment, and quickly asked, "Is it possible to combine two Cards?"

Kero stared at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Kero-chan! Answer me!"

"I..I don't think so Sakura-chan." He finally answered.

"Of course it isn't," Scoffed a voice from behind them, and Sakura looked behind her to see Syaoran staring at her, "Not unless you're Clow Reed."

"You know about Clow Reed?" Asked Kero, bewildered, but then remembered what was going on, "Never mind, we'll ask question later."

"I'm going to do it Kero-chan." Sakura stated, her eyes on the Card in front of them, "I have to try."

"Why bother? You'll never be able to do it."

Sakura glared at the boy behind her, secretly hurt that Syaoran was so cold all of a sudden. Determined to show him that he was wrong, Sakura took her stance.

"Don't do it Sakura-chan! You don't know what might happen!"

Ignoring Kero's pleas, she slowly closed her eyes and pictured the Cards that she was about to call. Below her, the glowing circle once again appeared, and she could feel the power radiating from it, blowing her hair in the process.

Lifting her wand, she brought it down. "Show thy true form to me...Firey Card!"

She felt the rush of wind around her, and knew that the Card's true form had been revealed. Keeping her eyes shut, she quickly went on with the rest of what she knew she had to do. Reaching into her pouch, she felt the Cards that she would be using, as if they knew they were going to be used, were on top of the deck. Pulling them out, she threw them into the air, and brought the wand down on both of them at the same time.

Behind her, she heard a gasp, and smiled slightly.

"Windy Card! Watery Card!..Release and dispell!"

Her eyes opened as the forms of the two Cards took shape, twirling and twisting through the air as they were released, and silently awaited her instructions.

"Bind it!"

That was all it took, and both Cards lunged towards Firey, which had taken a more human like shape. Twirling around it, both Cards were powerful enough to keep it inn one place, and unmoving. This was Sakura's chance. Stepping foreword, she once again lifted her wand and brought it down upon the Cards.

"Windy Card! Watery Card! Firey Card! Returned to your powers confined!"

Glowing, all three Cards took their normal shapes, and flew back towards Sakura, who waited with open hands. Grasping all three, she turned and smiled at her fellow companions. "Expect the unexpected, Syaoran." She stated, just before she passed out.

"Sakura-chan!" Cried Kero, rushing to his fallen Mistress' side, only to find her out cold, "She must have used all her energy controlling those Cards.."

Syaoran sat silently, staring at the girl before him. _How did she do that?...I've never even heard of Clow Reed doing that! I must admit...she does handle those Cards pretty well...it's a shame I'll have to take them from her._ Quietly standing, he made his way over to the girl, and bent down to study her. He'd seen her put the Cards in a pouch of some sort..but where?

"What do you think you're doing, _gaki??"_ Fumed a voice, and he looked up at the..stuffed animal?

"I was sent by the Li Clan to find the Clow Cards, and now that I have, I'm willing to get them no matter what. So just stay out of my way, stuffed animal."

"_Stuffed animal?!?!?_" Kero was furious! He quickly bit the boy's finger, "I'll show you stuffed animal!!"

"Ow!" Syaoran tried to pull the little beat off, but that made it hurt even more. "Get off!"

"How dare you call Kerberos, might Guardian of the Clow Book, a _stuffed animal_!!"

Blinking, Syaoran stopped yelling and stared at the small animal for a moment, before bursting into a fit of laughter. "Kerberos? Somehow I expected you to be a lot bigger!"

Finally letting go of the boy's finger, the guardian continued to glare. "This is only my temperate form! My other form is a lot bigger and cooler!"

"Sure, whatever you say _stuffed animal_."

Kero continued to fume at this, but soon turned his attention back to his mistress. "She needs to be taken home." He stated.

Frowning, Syaoran looked down at the girl – the slight bit of moonlight that made it down through the trees played across her face as the leaves moved with the slight breeze. _Even at night she looks like an angel..._ He blushed furiously at this, and turned his gaze away. _It's time to stop thinking about things like that..she's my enemy now, and either way, I'm getting those Cards._

"What do you think you're doing?"

Syaoran found himself picking up the girl and holding her tightly as he left the clearing, leaving her guardian behind in confusion.

"I'm taking her home, what do you think?"

Flying after him, Kero made sure to stay close to his mistress. "You better not try anything!"

From the darkness that they left behind, three figures watched this display in amusement.

"Well, well, well, my plan is beginning to take place."

"Although this Syaoran boy doesn't look too thrilled with the turn of events."

"Of course not, Ruby Moon...especially since he's learn that the Clow Cards are now in Sakura's hands."

"This will be quite amusing." 

"Of course it will be, Suppi-chan. Watching the girl collect the remaining Cards is only half the fun."

"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?"

"Ruby Moon...Spinal Sun...let us return home for the time being. This has been quiet a long night."

"Of course, Eriol-san."

With that, the three figures faded into the darkness.

To Be Continued....


	6. Confrontations

All That She Is

Chapter Five - Confrontations

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever.

Author's Notes – Yay..he's finally gone home. Thank god _ But anyway, back to writing ^_^ Nah, Syaoran won't be mean for long. How could he? Sakura's so kawaii! :D But like I said, this is a series...and kind of like a re-telling of CCS, with lots of twists and turns. Another thing, the Cards won't be captured in the order that they were in the show – in fact, Sakura has very few left to go...although the Earth Card will still be the last...right before the Final...whoops, can't say, now can I? ^_~ And for those who have guessed, no the fic won't be ending there...in fact, it will be a long while after that before it ends. One tiny small thing before I go...chapters will be slow getting out for a while...Mid-term exams start next week ^^; Anyway, enjoy!

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – Its another day at school for Sakura, and so far things aren't looking all that good...

----------

Sakura yawned, stretching her aching muscles. Slowly blinking her eyes open, she groggily looked across the room at her small clock, and tried to read it the best she could with blurry eyes. _7:30...I'm a bit early waking up..._ It was then that the past night's trauma came flashing back in her mind, and she sat up right, grabbing for the key she always wore around her neck. To her dismay, it wasn't there. 

"It's on the desk." Came a voice, startling Sakura, and for the first time that morning she noticed the two figures sitting across the room watching her.

"Touya.....Kero?" She asked, blinking, "...What happened?"

"Well, you sealed the Firey Card," Kero smiled slightly, "But you seemed to use a lot of energy doing it, and passed out afterwards."

"Then how did I get..?"

"Some stupid gaki brought you home." Touya frowned.

"Syaoran..?"

Beside her brother, Kero nodded. "He brought you home after you passed out...and after he tried to steal your Cards. But don't worry, I protected them for you," He smiled, "And I even saved him from being annihilated by your brother."

Sakura blinked and looked at her brother quizzically.

"What?" He asked, crossing his arms, "How was I supposed to act? I opened the door to find some Chinese gaki standing there in the dark, holding my sister who was passed out....what was I supposed to think? That he had nothing to do with the fact that you were out cold?"

"Well he didn't.." Sakura started, only to be interrupted.

"Either way, Sakura-chan, I don't trust him. He tried to take your Cards, and he knows about Clow Reed." Kero pointed out.

"I don't want you hanging around with him either." Touya added.

Frowning, Sakura nodded. She was outnumbered.

Sighing, she climbed out of bed on unsteady legs.

"Maybe you should stay home today.."

Sakura stared at her brother, studying him. When did he become so protective of me? She thought, but voiced out loud, "Why are you here, anyway?"

Standing, he walked towards her and ruffled her hair. "Had to look out for my baby sister now didn't I?"

She grinned and pushed him away. "Touya-san!"

"What?" He looked innocently, "Aren't I aloud to worry about you?"

"I guess..."

"Now sit back down. You're not going anywhere today."

"But.."

"And no buts! You have to regain your strength."

"But Touya-san!" She cried again, "I _have_ to go to school! I'm already way behind! Besides, I feel a lot better already!"

Sighing, Touya gave in. "Fine, fine...but hurry up and get dressed. I'm making you a big breakfast, and you're going to eat every bit of it."

With that, he finally left, closing the door behind him.

"I wonder what got into him?" She asked herself, forgetting the Guardian Beast was still in the room.

"He was just worried about you. Fujitaka-san had to work all night, so he took care of you himself." He smiled, floating over to his Mistress, "You should have seen him...he stayed up all night watching over you!"

Sakura smiled at this. She had seen a new side of her brother. But her time was cut short as she looked at the clock and realized how much time had gone by.

"Oh no! If I'm going to be eating breakfast, I'd better hurry up or I'll be late for school!"

Grabbing her uniform and her necklace, she ran from the room and headed towards the shower, leaving Kero behind to stare after her.

----------

So far the morning had gone all right. Sakura had managed to make it downstairs in time for breakfast and had eaten the pile of eggs and bacon that her brother had cooked for her (with a little help from Kero-chan), and they had both managed to find their way to school without help. Things were definitely going her way until...

"Sakura-chan!" Came a voice, and Sakura looked up from her desk to spot her friend Tomoyo running towards her, a video camera in hand. "I've got to show you something!"

Sakura blinked and looked up at the smiling girl, who quickly dropped her things on the desk across from Sakura and turned towards her new friend. "It was the weirdest thing," She started, toying with the camera as she spoke, "I was up in my room last night, just looking out the window, video taping things as I normally do...when I saw something that was quite...un-normal."

Curiosity took over Sakura as she peered over at Tomoyo.

"Here," Tomoyo stated, handing Sakura the camera, "Take a look at this."

Gently taking the expensive looking thing from her friend, she raised it to her eye and watched as it played back the scene her friend was talking about. Her jaw almost dropped to the floor at what she seen. _Oh no...It couldn't be..._ But it was. It was quite a distance away, but Sakura could tell just what it was. It was her – last night – on her wand as to hovered over the scene below.

"It..looks like some kind of bird.." Was all that Sakura could come up with.

"Zoom in closer." Smiled her friend, clicking the zoom button before Sakura could protest.

Sure enough, the picture zoomed in and she could clearly see herself now.

"It's you, isn't it?"

But Sakura never heard her. "Oh no...Kero's gonna kill me.."

"Kero? Who's Kero?"

"Who said my name?" Came a muffled voice, and Sakura peered down at her backpack. After yesterday, she had decided to keep it with her at all times, so she wouldn't have to carry around her books. Now she realized it was a bad idea as it started to move, and a small figure popped out.

"Kero!" Sakura's eyes widened, looking from the Magical Beast to Tomoyo, waiting for the scream to come. But it didn't. She blinked again, looking at her friend in surprise. Most people would have run by now, but her friend still wore her smile.

Kero turned to her to say something, but was soon interrupted.

"So _you're_ Kero!" Tomoyo poked him, "Aren't you _adorable_!"

"_Adorable_?" He fumed, backing away, "I am the mighty frightening Beast of the Seal!"

"Kero!"

Kero turned to look at his mistress. "What?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was making sure you were all right," He stated, his eyes roaming the empty classroom, "And making sure that gaki didn't hurt you."

"Hey..I recognize you now.." Came Tomoyo's voice as she watched Kero, "You were on that tape I made last night...with that fire and all. Syaoran was there too, if I remember correctly. Just what were you trying to do?"

Sakura was amazed at her new friend. She seemed to be taking this all too well. To most people magic and talking stuffed animals were probably something to be feared...but Tomoyo only sounded interested.

"Um.." Sakura started, looking to Kero for answers.

"It's...all kind of a secret, really." Kero laughed nervously, hoping Tomoyo wouldn't pry any more.

"Oh, come on." Tomoyo smiled evilly, "I have the whole thing on tape..now if I were to.."

"No, no, no, no! Please don't show anyone else!" Kero begged, "It's all bad enough you and that gaki kid found out already!"

"Then tell me," Tomoyo begged also, "I promise I won't tell!"

"Well.." Kero considered, but was cut short as someone entered the room, and he feel lifelessly onto Sakura's desk, hoping he hadn't been seen.

Looking up, Sakura found a pair of cold eyes burning into her.

Syaoran.. 

"Well Kinomoto, aren't you a bit too old to be playing with stuffed animals?" Asked the boy, standing in the doorway.

"...Kinomoto?" She said, "When did we resort to last names?"

He casually walked down the aisle and took his seat behind the Card Captor. "Since you stole something from me."

"I did no such thing!" Sakura glared.

"Then explain how the Clow Cards came to be in your possession if they belong to my Clan" He countered.

"Listen here gaki," Fumed small Kero, glaring at the boy also, "The Cards _belong_ to Sakura. When they escaped –"

"Escaped? And just how did they do that? I suppose it was just an accident that they were all set free and are terrorizing the city, now isn't it?"

"Well," Kero sweatdropped, "That's...kind of...what happened. But it wasn't Sakura's fault!"

Syaoran's gaze turned to the Clow Mistress. "You're not worthy of keeping those Cards. Once they're all caught, I intend to bring them back home, whether you like it or not."

During this conversation, Tomoyo had managed to sit still and listen, deciding to ask questions later. _Although I will have to talk to Syaoran-kun..he seems very angry at Sakura for some odd reason. I wonder if this means the bet is off?_

"That's what you think, _Li-kun_." Sakura shot, turning back around in her chair and slumping angrily in her chair. 

Tomoyo figured this was just about a good timing as any to ask, but as she opened her mouth, the bell sounded over head. _Damn! I'll never know what's going on! _She curiouslywatched as Sakura quickly stuffed an arguing Kero back into her backpack. This is all so very confusing...

Glancing upwards, Tomoyo finally noticed the people entering the room – Eriol being one of the first. After glancing at Sakura and Syaoran, who both looked mad for some reason, Eriol took his seat in front of his Clow Mistress.

"Good morning Sakura-chan," He smiled at her, and then added, "And Syaoran."

There was a brief smile from Sakura, and a grunt from Syaoran, and silence quickly fell upon the small group again. He blinked, surprised at this.

Maybe my plan isn't working as great as I thought it was... 

To Be Continued...


	7. Conflicting Emotions

All That She Is

Chapter Six – Conflicting Emotions

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever. Although I wish I did...because playing around with Syaoran and Sakura is fun ^_~

Author's Notes – Yeah, its been a while since I've updated...but I'm not really in the writing mood these days x_x Sorry to all the fans. But don't worry, I promise this fic will go on – but probably a lot more slowly.

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – Syaoran is about ready to do anything to get those Cards – but does it include hurting Sakura?

----------

Besides the encounter that morning, Sakura's second day of school went amazingly well. _At least better than yesterday_, she thought as she walked down the hall by herself. Around her kids were picking through lockers and leaving for the day, but at the moment she had no intentions of leaving the school grounds any time soon. At lunch time, after being confronted by a very eager Tomoyo, she had promised the girl that she would explain everything once school was over, and there was less people around.

By the time she reached her locker, the hallways was almost already empty, since students in their right mind would not want to stick around. Looking up and down the hall, she quickly unzipped her book bag to let a complaining Kero out.

"Sakura! That was absolutely horrible being stuck in there all day with no food!" He groaned, clutching at his stomach, "I'm starved!"

"You're always hungry, Kero-chan," She pointed out, and then added, "And it was your idea to hide in there in the first place!"

"I was only trying to protect you, Sakura-chan," He mumbled as his stomach growled, "I didn't know I'd be starved to death!"

"If you were starved to death, Kero-chan," Sakura giggled as she picked out what books she needed, "Then you wouldn't be here in front of me complaining!"

Before he could answer to that, they were interrupted by a "Sakura-chan! There you are!"

Sakura looked up to see a smiling Tomoyo heading her way, and smiled back. "Tomoyo-chan!"

"Are you and..." The girl stopped, looking at the small _alive_ stuffed bear. This was all kind of hard to believe, but there was no way to argue that it was all a trick. "..Kero ready to go?"

Sakura nodded, zipping up her backpack and closing and locking her locker.

"Soooo?" Tomoyo urged, eager to hear Sakura's story.

Looking up and down the hall, Kero confirmed that there was absolutely no people left. "Well, to make a long story short," He started, peering up at the other teenage girl, "There are these magical cards on the loose, who are now causing trouble wherever they are. Its Sakura's job to 'seal' these cards and control them."

This led to Tomoyo asking many more questions, and Sakura and Kero couldn't help but sigh. This day was never going to end.

----------

The hallways was quite empty as the two girls and guardian made their way towards the exits, if only for the single figure hidden silently behind corners as he followed them, keeping an ear out to hear their conversation. Syaoran was part of the Li Clan – it was his duty to find out anything he could. So he quietly followed the girls, making sure that he went unnoticed.

"So that fire thing you were fighting last night....it was a 'Clow Card'?" Syaoran could hear Tomoyo ask, and he mentally smacked himself upside the head. _If Sakura was a so-called 'Clow Mistress', then she should know better than to tell anyone about the Clow Cards!_ He growled silently at this. Nobody but the Li Clan are supposed to know about the Cards.

He watched as Sakura nodded, and for a moment, as she passed by a window and the bright sun flooded in around her, he swore that she was an angel. He absent mindedly stared at her, taking her figure in. She _had_ to be an angel...no one could look like that and _not_ be!

It was when she stepped out of the light did he finally snap out of it. _Baka, baka, BAKA!!! Stop thinking such thoughts! She's the enemy! You mustn't let her distract you from the task at hand!_ He quietly rounded another corner, following as closely as he could. They were at the entrance now, and Sakura and the stuffed bear had explained most of the basic things already.

Looking up as he followed, he found that the sunlight through the windows was once again highlighting Sakura, and he found that he couldn't look away. It was then that he tripped over a garbage can, sending the contents sprawling everywhere. The noise was loud enough to wake up the dead, and as he heard gasps in front of him, he realized that he had been caught.

----------

A loud crash had startled both girls, and at the same time, they spun around to see what had caused it. A garbage can now lay on the floor further down the hall, trash spread everywhere. However, there was nobody there.

"That's odd...there's nobody there." Commented Tomoyo.

Sakura nodded, before yelling out, "Hello?" But of course, there was no answer.

They both looked at each other and shrugged, before heading out through the large double doors of the high school, all along, a strange familiar feeling tugged at the back of Sakura's mind, although she couldn't quite place it. _An aura?_ She blinked, but shook the thought it off.

----------

Syaoran, eyes wide, was had his back against the corner's wall, waiting to be caught. But they never came to investigate, and as he heard them continue their way, he sighed in relief, moving away from the wall. That was a close one. He glared at the fallen garbage can before kicking it out of his way. "I feel like such a fool!" He growled to no one in particular. "I'm not waiting any longer." He decided, running down the hall and out through the front doors. _Those Cards are _mine_!_

----------

"You're like some kind of super hero, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo exclaimed, grinning, "And I know just how to help!"

Sakura stared at her, confused.

"Uhm," Kero sweatdropped, "I don't think you can...I mean, we don't want you to get hurt or anything..."

"But I won't!" Tomoyo replied, digging out her video camera. "I just want to catch Sakura on film during these 'captures', and I'm a good designer too! What kind of super hero doesn't have a costume?"

It was Sakura's turn to sweatdrop. "Costume?"

They had finally made it out of the school to be met by the bright sunlight and cool fresh air. Now they were slowly making their way across the large front yard, keeping an eye out for Touya, as Sakura was to go home with him. Today, however, Sakura planned to go to Tomoyo's house, who had invited her earlier, and now she only had to tell Touya where she was going. Behind them, they did not see or hear the dark shadow that continued to follow them slowly, awaiting its first move.

"Yeah," Tomoyo confirmed, "All super heroes have costumes! Haven't you ever seen those American films – what were they – Batman? Spiderman? And then there's our animes like Sailor Moon...although they can transform whenever they want to..."

This was as good as chance as any. "She won't be needing a costume, because she won't be holding those Cards for very much longer." A tall form seemed to land in front of them out of nowhere, and as he stood, they both gasped.

"Syaoran-kun! What are you doing here?" Tomoyo demanded, having been interrupted. 

But Syaoran didn't seem to hear her as he pinpointed Sakura, and glared venomously, slowly raising a hand and holding it out to her. "Give them up Sakura."

Taking a step back, Sakura shook her head, and Kero, who was silent since Syaoran's arrival, flew to his Mistress' aid, and sat on her shoulder, returning Syaoran's glare. 

Watching as Sakura stepped back, Syaoran stepped forward. "I don't want to hurt you Sakura, but if you leave me no choice then I will."

Sakura was now back up against the wire fence that surrounded the school's yard, and there was no place else to go. Syaoran, who kept little distance, was getting closer by the second, and his face was still frozen in loathing.

"Leave her alone, gaki!" The small stuffed animal finally yelled, taking flight and latching on to the boy's hand. He took this chance to strike, and bite deeply into Syaoran's hand, who yelped and shook the Guardian Beast free. Kero was now airborne, but was luckily caught by a very worried Tomoyo.

"Stay out of this cotton fluff." Syaoran growled, turning his attention back to the lovely Clow Mistress. "This is between me and her." And with that, he took the last few steps to close the distance between him and the girl.

He was so close now that Sakura could feel his warm breath upon her face, and he placed his arms on either side of her, holding onto the wire fence behind her to make it harder for her to escape. There was no escape, she realized. Either she gave up the Cards or... She shut her eyes tightly, waiting for him to make his next move.

Syaoran smirked at this – she was afraid. Afraid of **him**, he corrected himself, and felt slightly saddened by this. He shook that thought off. As long as he got the Cards, nothing mattered. Not even the inviting look of her lips... _Stop it Syaoran!_ He shifted uncomfortably, but his eyes were still drawn to those cherry pink lips of hers. _I could do it,_ he thought_, just close the distance and kiss her...would her lips taste of cherries? No...no! Stop such thoughts! _ But already he was leaning in, ready to kiss her, drawn to her.

"Hey!"

In all his debating on weather to kiss the Mistress or not, he had not sensed the taller and much older form making his way towards them, followed by someone else. _Touya.._he blinked, backing away. Damn! With that, he turned and fled, leaving a bewildered Sakura behind.

"Don't think this will be the last!" He called over his shoulder as he disappeared, "You haven't won yet! I won't stop until those Cards are mine!"

And he was gone. Tomoyo, who was helpless to do anything the whole time, finally made her way over to her friend to see if she was all right, and to hide Kero in her back pack. Touya and Yukito, who had just arrived, did so as well.

"Sakura – what's going on? Did he hurt you?" Touya asked worriedly, although he tried not to show it.

"He tried to.." Sakura started, but then found Yukito staring at her curiously, "Steal my lunch money." She said lamely, so Yukito would not find out what Syaoran was really after. "I'm okay, really. All he did was threaten me."

Touya turned to look off in the direction the boy had run to. "He'd better not come near my little sister again or I'll.."

"You're very protective of her." Yukito observed, smiling.

Touya blinked before arguing, "I am not!", and starting his way back towards the gates of the school, checking once over his shoulder to see if Sakura was following.

"Yeah, we'll walk halfway," She answered, hurrying to catch up with the two older boys, "But I'm heading over to Tomoyo-chan's, if that's okay."

Lagging behind, Tomoyo couldn't help but smile. Although Sakura was naive, so was Syaoran. She had seen the conflicting emotions going through Syaoran...maybe there was hope for him yet.

To Be Continued... 


	8. Cake And Dresses

All That She Is

Chapter Seven – Cake and Dresses

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever. Although I wish I did...because playing around with Syaoran and Sakura is fun ^_~

Author's Notes – Not a lot of action in this part. Mainly Tomoyo and Sakura getting friendlier. Don't worry, lots of action in further chapters...we have another capture on the way, and another encounter with Syaoran...probably next chapter ^_~

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato...Yes, I know using original characters suck, but I needed another guy for Meiling to make the plot and all ^^;

Summary – Sakura and Tomoyo get closer after an afternoon at the Daidouji mansion.

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Breathing heavily, the tired form of Syaoran leaned against a brick wall, hidden out of sight. He silently cursed Sakura's older brother, and then himself for being lured in by Sakura. Shutting his eyes, he tried to rid his mind of any seductive images of her. It was useless. For some reason, he couldn't get the image of her out of his head...her beauty...and how everything seemed to brighten around her. Her lips...which he had almost had the privilege of touching with his own. So close...but yet so far away.

__

Damn her! What's wrong with me?? He shook his head desperately. _Why do I feel this way? She's the enemy!_

"Yukito-kun!"

Syaoran opened his eyes to see Sakura and the others passing by him, and he slid into the shadows unnoticed. He watched as a smiling Sakura took the tall white haired boy's arm, and flashed him a smile. For a moment, Syaoran thought he felt anger and jealousy course through him, but he pushed that thought aside. The white haired man – Yukito? There was something strange about him...something Syaoran couldn't quite pinpoint.

His attention turned back to Sakura, who was giggling at something Tomoyo had said. He smirked slightly at this and silently made a vow. He would not let his petty emotions, r whatever he was feeling, interfere with his task. 

__

She won't be laughing much longer..., he thought, slipping even further into the darkness.

----------

"Wow Tomoyo-chan! You live here?" Sakura asked in awe, staring at the house that stood in front of her.

Tomoyo nodded, smiling. "My mom owns a toy company, so we have lots of money..."

"I never knew you were rich, Tomoyo-chan!"

"Does this mean you have lots of sweets?" Asked Kero, poking his head out of Sakura's backpack.

"Yes Kero-chan," Tomoyo laughed, "Much more than you can imagine!" She pressed a button outside the large gates that surrounded the estate. "Tomoyo Daidouji here, could you please open the gates?"

"Yes Mistress." A voice replied from a voice box that Sakura hadn't noticed before, and the massive black gates automatically began to open.

Following Tomoyo, Sakura and Kero made their way across the grounds and up the steps to the large and expensive looking house. Inside, it was even more amazing, and Sakura looked around with wide eyes. She had never seen a house so big and elegant before, and neither did Kero by the look of it.

"Whoa! This place is almost as big as Clow Reed's place!" He exclaimed, mouth wide open. "Just you and your mom live here?"

"And the servants and bodyguards."

"Bodyguards?" Sakura asked.

Tomoyo nodded. "Mom's afraid that someone might kidnap me or something for ransom...and she's also very protective. Usually they're watching over me every second of the day."

It was then a lady entered, smiling brightly. "Mistress Tomoyo, may I take your jacket?"

Kero immediately hid behind Sakura, hoping he hadn't been seen, and ducked into the Card Captor's pocket as the elder lady took Sakura's jacket as well, and asked if she could bring them anything.

"Ah, yes," Tomoyo looked over at Sakura, and then to the small tail sticking out of Sakura's pocket. "Could you bring us some of that cake that was left over from last night and something to drink?"

The servant nodded, still smiling. "I'll bring it into the living room in a few moments."

"Thank you." Tomoyo returned the smile, and lead her two guests into the large living room down the hall.

Sakura marveled at the living room as well as she sat in an expensive looking leather couch. This was definitely the biggest house she'd ever been in, and she watched as Kero floated around, inspecting things.

"So are you guys settled in at home yet?" Tomoyo asked, making conversation.

"Well, dad has started working already...so it's just me and Touya to unpack. Dad unpacked all of the important stuff and left us to the smaller things."

The conversation stopped as the lady who had taken their coats entered, holding a tray of cake and drinks. Beside her she heard Kero gasp at the sight of cake, and she quickly grabbed him and hid him away. Luckily the lady had been paying more attention to the tray, or Kero would have been seen for sure.

"Is there anything else you'd like?" She asked, laying the tray down on the small table that stood between Sakura and Tomoyo. Tomoyo shook her head and dismissed her.

"Ohhh! Cake!" Kero drooled, struggling out of Sakura's grasp.

"Kero-chan! You really should be careful! You were almost caught **again**!"

"But but..." He pointed towards the tray, looking up at Sakura with pleading eyes, "Cake!"

She sweatdropped at this. "You really are a bottomless pit."

Tomoyo could only laugh, reaching out to pour herself and Sakura a drink. "Sorry Kero, but she only brought out two plates and two glasses...so we're going to have to share."

"That's okay...just make sure it's a big piece!"

"Did I just hear.." Both Tomoyo and Sakura looked at the sound of the voice, and Sakura instantly grabbed for Kero again. The servant once again appeared at the door, a confused look on her face. "Did I just hear another voice?"

"No.." Tomoyo lied, picking up her drink casually and taking a sip, "Its just me and Sakura-chan here."

"I thought.." She shook her head. "Anyway, I came back because I forgot to mention to you that your new material arrived, along with that new dress you sent away to get looked at. I left them in your room."

"Thank you." Tomoyo replied, and she left again.

"Cake!" Kero immediately dived into the cake that Tomoyo had just served, and she giggled as he made a mess all over himself.

Soon afterwards, when the cake had vanished (mostly into Kero's stomach), Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her up the flight of stairs and towards her room. It was there that Tomoyo found her dress, neatly lain on her bed. Picking it up, she held it in front of her for Sakura to see.

"Wow Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura exclaimed in awe, "You made that?"

The other girl nodded. "I usually send it to my personal sewing teacher to have a look – it just arrived back today."

"Its awesome!"

"Know what would be really cool?" Tomoyo asked, a strange sparkle in her eye, "You...in this dress!"

Sakura blinked and stared. "Oh no Tomoyo...I couldn't..." But Tomoyo was already holding the dress in front of Sakura and standing back, studying her.

"Come on Sakura, try it on!"

"Oh all right.." Sakura finally gave in, and handing her the dress, Tomoyo showed her to a bathroom in which she could change in.

Emerging from the bathroom, Sakura was met with faces of awe. She smiled, turning to give a show. The dress was long, with frills and other fancy looking things. It was a light shade of pink, and went down past her knees, ending in white frills and dark rose like shapes.

"It looks beautiful on you Sakura!" Tomoyo exclaimed, and Kero nodded in approval.

"Really?" Sakura looked around for a mirror. She wanted to see this for herself. She'd never really been the kind of girl to wear fancy dresses, and finding a large mirror, her eyes widened. It really did look nice on her.

"Ohhh! I can't wait to make you new dresses and film you in them!"

"But..Tomoyo-chan...won't that cost a lot?""

"Its nothing," Tomoyo waved it off, "Just a small dent in my allowance. Its worth it too, because then I get to make all these pretty dresses, film all these captures and make movies and such...so I won't just be wasting money."

Sakura continued to stare at herself in the mirror.

"Hey.." That was Kero, who seemed to be getting bored of all the girl chatter, "Tomoyo..do you have any video games?"

Sakura saw Tomoyo's confused face and sweatdropped. "When me and Kero first met, he took up a liking to my video games..now I can hardly get him away from it."

Tomoyo nodded in understanding, and told Kero where that she kept all her video games in the cabinet under her television. Kero happily flew over and opened it to find a pile of games. He was in video game heaven, and it stayed that way for a few more hours as Sakura allowed Tomoyo to dress her up. She even tried new hairstyles and hats to go with the outfits that Tomoyo handed her. It was only when she saw how dark it was getting out did Sakura insist on leaving, since her brother would be looking for her. Changing back into her old clothes, she finally tore Kero away from his game.

"But..but...I was almost finished the level!"

"You can finish it some other time, Kero-chan." Tomoyo smiled. "You two are always welcomed here."

Sakura smiled back. She had had a lot of fun this afternoon, and had realized that Tomoyo was a really nice and talented person. She liked Tomoyo a lot, to the point where she considered her a best friend. "Thank you Tomoyo-chan."

Showing them to the door, Tomoyo insisted that Sakura get a ride home with one of her bodyguards. She did not want a repeat of what happened in the schoolyard earlier that day – well, at least while she wasn't there with her camera. She knew that without a doubt that Syaoran would never truly hurt Sakura – emotionally, maybe..but never physically. He was too good of a person to do that. Either way, she finally convinced Sakura into the ride, and waved goodbye and goodnight to her new friend.

This had certainly been an interesting day indeed.

To Be Continued... 


	9. Yukito's Secret

All That She Is

Chapter Eight – Yukito's Secret

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever. Although I wish I did...because playing around with Syaoran and Sakura is fun ^_~

Author's Notes – Short chapter, I know. And it's taking a long time for me to get chapters out...sorry. I've been busy a lot lately and I've got other stories/projects that I'm working on. Next chapter's going to be a long one, I promise! We have another Card on the way...along with Sakura/Syaoran moments ;)

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol, Meiling/Yamato

Summary – There is definitely something strange about Yukito...could Yue really be awakened already?

----------

For once in his life, the reincarnation of Clow Reed was confused.

He was sure that when he had started the bet with Syaoran, that maybe something would bloom – friendship at least. Never had he expected Syaoran to suddenly become so cold, especially to the Card Mistress Sakura. But Syaoran was bent on getting those Cards back, no matter the circumstances. 

His plan had failed.

Eriol Hiiragizawa sat in a large chair, darkness surrounding him. He often sat here to think or plan, and tonight was one of those nights. He had seen what had happened in the schoolyard earlier that day, although from afar as to not be seen, and now his mind was spinning. What was he going to do? Would he let his Mistress continue her capturing alone? Although she would never really be alone...she had her guardian Cerberus with her, even though he wasn't much help in his smaller form.

Tomoyo – he remembered her telling Tomoyo everything. Perhaps she could help as well..although she didn't posses any special powers like the rest of them. Even so, Eriol smiled, thinking of her – she was smart and cunning, and could be of great use. Although he much preferred it if it was Syaoran by her side..which looked very doubtful that that would ever happen.

"Eriol-san...would you like a cup of tea?"

He looked up to find Nakuru, Ruby Moon's more human form, staring down at him. He nodded, and she brought it to him.

From somewhere on his right came a small yawn, and a small dark cat-likish thing stretched, finally taking a break from reading. Spinel Sun loved the quietness of the room, and also his books. He spent many hours at it, and unlike Ruby Moon, he was quite serious.

"How was your day?" Nakuru asked, laying down a tray at Eriol's side.

"Quite bothersome." Eriol sighed, laying his head on the palm of his hand. "The Clow Mistress and my Descendant are not getting along very well."

"Bothersome it was." Nakuru put her hands on her hips and looked down at her two companions. "When you told me that the new Mistress' brother possessed special powers, and it would be best if we kept him away from Yukito – I never **dreamed** it would be this hard! They're already so close its like they're attached at the waist!"

"Yue has not yet shown himself, so there's no real threat yet. You do not have to overdue it." Said the Kero-like cat figure from its perch.

"Yes...but there's something...odd about him.."

This brought Eriol's attention to her, and he gave her a questioning look.

"Its like...he knows.." Nakura blinked, continuing, "Is that possible? That he knows who he is...and what his priorities are?"

"He shouldn't.." Replied the cat.

"But the again," Eriol continued for him, "He just might...Yue was bound to come forth sooner or later...and Sakura is late in capturing the Cards. Perhaps Yukito found out before Sakura arrived here that he is the Moon Guardian."

"So it's possible?"

"Indeed it is." Eriol paused for a moment, "Which could through another hitch into my plans. Ruby Moon, I want you to watch him carefully."

"Yes Eriol-san." She bowed slightly in response.

"Now," Eriol checked his watch, "Perhaps it is time that we headed off to bed. We have interesting things to look out for in the future."

The two Guardians nodded and disappeared into the darkness.

Interesting indeed... 

----------

Sakura yawned, staring across the table at the Guardian Beast Kero, who happened to be stuffing his mouth at the moment. 

"Kero-chan..make sure you chew! You'll make yourself sick!"

"But...I'm...Just...So...Hungry!" He managed between mouthfuls. He had woken Sakura up earlier than she normally got up, so that she could make a big breakfast "for the family", he had said, although he meant mainly himself.

She sighed, finishing off her own breakfast, and thinking about everything that had happened recently. _I made a new friend...a few new enemies..._ She closed her eyes, laying her forehead in her hand. _Why does all this have to happen to me? First Meiling starts hating me for no reason...and now Syaoran. Why is everything so difficult?_

She had arrived home late last night, just when her brother was about to send out a full fledge search party. By the looks of it, he had been really worried that the "damn Chinese gaki" had gotten her. After assuring Touya that she was fine, and had just forgotten the time, she finally went upstairs and fell onto her bed, her eyes drooping with fatigue and sleep. It had been a long tiring day.

Now here she was – ready to start yet another day.

"Hey squirt. I see you're up early."

Sakura sent a glare in the direction of her brother, who had just entered the kitchen. He settled down in the chair across from her, taking a pancake out of the stack that was in the middle of the table, ignoring Kero's loud eating noises. 

"Yeah, well – Kero was hungry, and I couldn't sleep any longer. Didn't dad say he was going to be home early this morning?"

"Yeah." Touya checked his watch, "He should be here any minute."

"He's been working through the night a lot lately – I hardly get to see him anymore."

"He's been tired and working hard." Touya shrugged, poking a pancake in his mouth.

It was then that Sakura finally heard a door open and close and she turned to find her father standing in the doorway, looking quite tired.

"Dad!" She grinned, and gave him a big hug, "I made you breakfast. Hurry before Kero eats it all."

Fujitaka smiled at his daughter before taking a seat. "Thank you."

Sakura smiled back, watching her family eat. Glancing at her watch, she then realized how late it was getting.

"Touya! Hurry we gotta go!" She gasped, quickly putting her dirty dishes in the sink and picking up the things she needed.

"What's the rush?" He asked, finishing off another pancake.

"We don't want to keep Yukito waiting." She blushed slightly, easing her back pack onto her shoulders.

"Right." Said Touya, finishing off and putting his dishes in the sink as well.

By the time Sakura had her blades strapped on, Touya was ready to go. Saying good bye to their father, they both headed off to school.

----------

Yukito Tsukishiro waited at the corner of the street where he told the Kinomoto's he'd meet them. Leaning against the brick wall, he stared off in the direction he assumed they would be coming in. Not only did he assume, but he _felt_ the direction. Ever since he had met Sakura and Touya, he'd been strangely drawn to them – or rather, Sakura. In fact, he could sense her presence a mile away. It was strange, in a way, but seemed calmly normal. He should have known from his first encounter with her – the magical aura that surrounded her. She was Clow Reed's so called "Card Captor". He frowned slightly at that thought.

It was true, he did know who he was. Yue of the Moon – Clow Reed's Guardian. How could he not know? In his human form he ate more than any human usually ate, slept more, and many other things as well. He'd learned about his counter part a long time ago – through dreams and memory relapses. Clow Reed told him a long time ago before he put him to sleep, that he would awake once his new Master arrived – but his new _Master_ had taken a long time to show up. Yukito's counter part had grown restless, and had broken the sleeping spell. Now Yukito was well aware of his destiny.

His destiny with _her_ as his Master.

He didn't like that thought much, but plastered a smile on his face as he saw them heading towards him. The girl, Sakura, had a wide grin on her face as she roller bladed, and waved at him. Touya, he saw, rode his bike beside her.

Touya – there was something strange about him too. Something that he sensed, but couldn't see, hear or think of. Perhaps it was just his imagination playing trick on him, but it was a recurring feeling around Touya. It was something he'd have to look in to.

"Hey Sakura...Touya." He smiled at them, "You guys ready for school?"

"Yep!" Sakura skidded to a halt in front of him. "Did my homework last night and everything!"

"That's a real achievement for her." Touya pointed out.

"Hey!" Sakura cried, turning to face her brother – and yet another sibling fight broke out as Yukito stood and watched.

__

Is she really my new Master? He thought, watching her argue with her brother, _how can she be? Look at her argue over petty things...how can she be the Card Mistress? She's so young and naive..._

"Okay, enough arguing! We're going to be late!" Said Sakura, skating onwards. "Come on!"

__

But things are not always what they seem, he reminded himself, _and she still has Cards left to catch. I will be the final judge on whether she's fit to be the Card Mistress...and my Master. In time, we shall see._

He smirked at that.

We shall see. To Be Continued.... 


	10. Sakura's Sword Fight

All That She Is

Chapter Nine – Sakura's Sword Fight

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever. Although I wish I did...because playing around with Syaoran and Sakura is fun ^_~

Author's Notes – Here's a longer chapter. I did this one a lot faster than the other...I started it yesterday and finished it today lol. Anyway, please read the thing at the bottom and answer, so I know what to do next. Enjoy!

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol

Summary – Another day at school leads to much more.

----------

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura turned at the call of her name and smiled as Tomoyo and a few girls came up to greet her as she entered school grounds. Saying goodbye to Touya and Yukito, she smiled at the other girls. Tomoyo, she knew – but the others she didn't.

"Good morning Tomoyo-chan."

"You too Sakura," She smiled back, then gestured to the other girls, "Have you met Rika, Naoko and Chiharu yet? I ran into them on the way to school."

"No, I don't think we have." Sakura held out her hand, "My name's Sakura."

Each girl shook it and introduced herself with a friendly smile on their face.

"So what were you guys doing out shopping so early?" Tomoyo asked as they headed towards the school.

"That new store on Junavu Avenue opened this morning and we wanted to get their early and check it out before school opened," Replied Naoko. "They have all kinds of creepy stuff in there!"

"Yeah, the place itself was pretty creepy."

"I bet it was haunted." Rika added, poking fun at her friend Naoko, who believed in such things.

"Haunted...as in by ghosts?" Sakura gasped. The one thing she was afraid of was ghosts.

"Yeah." Answered Rika, "Naoko's really into that kinda stuff."

"I find it fascinating."

Sakura bit her bottom lip, looking at her new friends and hoping the topic would change soon. Tomoyo seemed to be reading her mind.

"So did you guys buy anything?" She asked, holding open the large glass doors for the girls to enter.

"Rika was the only one. The place was mainly antiques and old jewelry – and you know how she likes jewelry."

"Hey! I though it was pretty!" She said, taking it out of her pocket.

"Personally I think its ugly." Said Chiharu, sticking out her tongue.

"Oooh, can I see?"

"Sure," Rika smiled, handing it to Sakura.

It was a simple brooch in the shape of a awesome looking sword.

"I think it's cool." Said Sakura, handing it to Tomoyo to see.

"Kinomoto wouldn't know what 'cool' meant even if it bit her in the ass." Came a cold voice, and Sakura turned to find Meiling standing behind her.

"What do you want Meiling?" Asked Naoko, arms crossed.

"Yeah...where's your new boy toy?"

"Actually, I'm here to tell Kinomoto something – and as for my 'boy toy', he's old news." Meiling smirked.

"What do you want with me?" Sakura finally asked.

"Remember what I told you in the bathroom a few days ago?"

"You uh..told me to stay away from Syaoran." Sakura said, remembering it clearly.

"Right. And I'm here to tell you now that I'm taking steps to make sure you stay away from Syaoran." She glared, her smirk fading.

"And what steps are those, Meiling?" Asked Tomoyo, bravely stepping up beside her friend.

Meiling's evil smirk returned. "I broke up with Yamato – and soon I'm going to be going out with Syaoran again."

"You broke up with Yamato to go back out with Syaoran, just because he might be interested in another girl?" Asked Rika, but Meiling chose to ignore this question.

__

Interested? Sakura blushed for a minute. _Syaoran interested in...me?_ She then remembered the past few days and his attempts to take the Cards from her. Her smile faded. _Only because he wants the Cards...that's why he's so interested._

"He'll never go back out with you Meiling." Tomoyo frowned, "Not after you just broke up with him."

"Of course he will! I'm his fiancée and he loves me!" She spat, and turned around and walked away. "Remember what I said Kinomoto! I mean it!"

Sakura stood and watched her back as she walked away. She soon felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find Naoko.

"Just ignore her Sakura. She's all bark but no bite."

"Yeah!," Added Chiharu, "Go after Syaoran if you want to! He's not Meiling's to control!"

Sakura blushed again. _Go after Syaoran? They don't understand what's going on..._

It was then that the bell finally decided to ring, and the girls headed off to their lockers to get their stuff for the day.

Sakura sighed, heading to her locker as well.

So far the school day wasn't turning out so great.

----------

Sure, the day had started out nice – pancakes with her family and all, but school soon ruined it. After the encounter with Meiling, Sakura soon found herself in a class where she was to spend the day, with the person she hated most sitting behind her and glaring at her. At least she had her best friend by her side, and Eriol tried his best to keep her in a cheerful mood. Luckily she made it through the school day without anymore incidents.

Closing her locker, Sakura turned to find Tomoyo and Rika waiting for her.

"Ready to go Sakura-chan?"

She nodded, giving them a smile.

"So how was your day?" Asked Rika.

"It was..okay." Answered Sakura.

"Don't you think Miss Mizuki is a nice teacher?"

"She's new here, isn't she?" Asked Tomoyo. "I never saw her around here last year."

"Yeah, she just moved here this summer – or so I heard."

Rounding a corner, they ran right into the person they were talking about.

"Miss Mizuki!"

"Hey girls." She smiled, looking at each of them, and her eyes lingering on Sakura. "Not gone yet? I figured you guys would have left a long time ago...the halls are already empty."

"No, we're usually around late." Sakura smiled back, "I have to wait for my brother and his friend after school anyway, and they're always late."

"Oh, well, I must be going now." Nodding goodbye, she past by the girls, but not before she whispered something so quietly that only Sakura heard. "Small things can lead to much danger."

Sakura stopped as the other two girls continued walking and chatting. _Did she just...._ Shaking her head, she hurriedly caught up to the others as they exited out through the front door.

  
"How come you never put your brooch on after?" Sakura heard Tomoyo ask Rika as she finally caught up.

"Well...after what Meiling said, I think it's kinda dorky.."

"I think it looks...mature." Sakura encouraged her friend. "Why don't you put it on to see for yourself?"

"Oh, okay," She sighed, picking the sword brooch out of her pocket, and pinning it on her sweater.

"See? It looks fantastic!" Sakura smiled at her.

"Yeah – it looks really nice with that sweater." Tomoyo added.

There was silence for a minute, and Sakura's smile faded. Something was wrong...the color on her friend's eyes...it was somehow..duller and looked drained...

"Rika-chan? Are you okay?"

"Rika?"

Rika looked up, her eyes unfocused, and turned in Sakura's direction, her brooch glowing white. Sakura covered her eyes at the sudden bright light. _What's going on?? _She thought frantically. The question was finally answered when she lowered her arms, and peered at her friend. Rika still looked the same..but the brooch had disappeared and Rika now held a sword.

"Rika?"

There was no answer, only silence.

"Rika!" Tomoyo yelled, putting a hand on her shoulder. Rika roughly shrugged it off, all attention still on Sakura.

"Draw." She finally spoke. "And fight me."

"Rika...no.." Sakura said softly, stepping back.

Rika took a step foreword, keeping a small distance between them. "Then you shall die."

She swung the sword, and Sakura dodged.

Behind them Tomoyo shouted, "Rika! No!"

Making some distance, Sakura threw down her back pack and faced her friend, a determined look on her face. _What's wrong with her? Is it a Clow Card?_

Rika swung at her again, and she managed to graze by it.

Small things can lead to much danger. __

Small things...the brooch! The brooch did this! It must _be some sort of Clow Card!_ Pulling her magical key from around her neck, she held it in front of her and chanted the words to turn it into the Sealing Wand. "Oh Key of Clow, Power of magic, Power of light...Surrender the wand, The force ignite!...Release!"

The key expanded and formed the Sealing Wand just as Rika's sword cut through the air again – and Sakura used the Sealing Wand to stop it before it could go any further.

"Rika! Snap out of it!"

But it was no use – she kept swinging the sword at Sakura, who blocked it.

"Sakura! Do something!"

"I can't!" Shouted Sakura, who blocked another strike, "I don't want to hurt her!"

Rika took advantage of Sakura's distraction, and brought the sword down before she could block it again, slicing through the shoulder of her jacket and causing her to drop her wand as she cried out in pain and dropped to her knees. Holding her sword to Sakura's throat, Rika smirked evilly.

"Now you meet your end."

"Rika! No!" Cried Tomoyo, horrified.

"Rika...please.." Sakura choked out, holding on to her cut arm. "You don't want to do this."

"Of course I do!" She spun the sword around, bringing it above her head to strike, and swung down..and watched as if in slow motion a blur of green flashed by, and her sword cut through nothing but air. Confused, she looked around for Sakura.

Her eyes clenched, Sakura thought for sure that she was a goner. The Card Mistress...brought down by the same Cards she was born to catch and look after. But when she felt herself being lifted into strong arms, and the sword did not strike – she opened her eyes to find Syaoran, dressed in his green Chinese robes, frowning down at her.

"Can you stand?" He asked coolly, lowering her to her feet.

"I..I think so.." She said as he let her go in time to block an attack from Rika.

Standing behind Syaoran, Sakura watched as he blocked every blow with his sword perfectly.

"Li-kun! Please be careful!" Came a voice, and Sakura turned to find Meiling dressed in Chinese robes as well, although a different color than Syaoran.

"Meiling?" She asked, confused. Why was Meiling here? Did she know about the Cards?

"Kinomoto..what are _you_ doing here?" Meiling spat, finally noticing the other girls.

"Some Card Captor you are, Kinomoto," Syaoran said through clenched teeth, "Can't even seal a Card like this."

"Card Captor?" Meiling asked, jaw dropping, "There's no way Kinomoto can be the Card Captor!"

Frowning and ignoring their comments, she turned back to the fight and watched as Syaoran swung his sword and Rika. It looked like an even battle to her..although Syaoran seemed a bit more stronger, being a boy and all. That and Rika was already tiring out, giving him the upper hand.

"Syaoran! Don't hurt her!" Yelled Tomoyo, stepping up beside Sakura, "She's still Rika!"

"That's right.." Sakura whispered, "If she's hit, Rika will die..."

Making up her mind, Sakura grabbed her sealing wand from where she had dropped it.

"Li-kun! Stop!" She yelled, stepping in between him and Rika. "You can't hurt her!"

Rika attacked again, and Syaoran blocked it from hitting Sakura. "Then how else am I supposed to stop her?" He glared.

"She's still Rika.." Sakura whispered with pleading eyes, "You can't hurt another human being!"

"You're just soft...you can't let things such as friendship get in your way! That's what makes you weak!"

"I'd do anything for my friends." She whispered, tears in her eyes. And as Syaoran stared down at her, he softened slightly.

"Syaoran-kun! Watch out!" Came Meiling's voice.

They turned towards Rika, who was once again swinging with all her might. But before the sword could hit its mark, Sakura called forth the Jump Card and grabbing Syaoran, got both him and herself to safety.

"What do we go now?" He asked, once they wee a safe distance away.

"I got an idea." She replied. "But you and me are going to have to work together on it."

He eyed her suspiciously, but nodded. "I don't like you...and none of this surely doesn't change any of it. I'm out to get the Cards myself."

She nodded in understanding. "The sword is what's making her do all of this," She began, "And I believe that if we can get it out of her hands, then I'll be able to seal it."

"Where do I come in?" He asked, keeping his eye on Rika who had finally found them and was making her way across the school grounds towards them.

"Distract her – I need enough time to do my thing."

"Fine, fine." He growled, and stepped foreword, letting Rika close the distance between them, her sword immediately flying through the air towards him. "Just hurry up, okay?"

She nodded, flashing him a smile, and he continued to fend off Rika.

Pulling out a Card, Sakura knew just what to do. Calling upon her magic, the sky darkening around her and a large golden symbol appearing beneath her feet, she left the Card that she had chosen floating in the air in front of her. Swinging her wand, she brought it down on the Card.

"Sleep Card! Release and dispell!"

Within seconds the Card started to do its work, and she watched as Tomoyo, Meiling and the Card dropped to the ground asleep. Syaoran, however, did not.

"You...you're not asleep.." She observed, looking at him in confusion.

"I have the ability of magic," He explained, casting her a cold glance, "I've been trained against these sort of things."

"Oh." Was all she could think of to say. She watched as he pried the sword out of Rika's hand, careful not to touch it and be enchanted as she was, and placed it some distance away. She drew closer, keeping a close eye on him.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked, feeling her gaze. It made him both uncomfortable and tingly at the same moment..and he felt his cheeks grow warm at the sudden attention. "Just do it already."

"Mmhmm." She nodded, turning her attention away and to the sword, holding up her Sealing Wand. "Sword Card...return to your powers confined!"

A swirl of colors surrounded them, and a Card took shape at the top of Sakura's wand. When the colors stopped, a newly formed Clow Card hung in the air, before flying into Syaoran's hand.

"One less Card I'll have to take from you, Kinomoto." He smiled coolly.

Sakura sighed. Were things always going to be like this?

"Sakura-chan? Are you alright?"

Sakura turned to find Tomoyo running towards her. She nodded.

"Yeah, just a small cut."

"That's good." Tomoyo sighed in relief," I thought for sure you were a goner when..." Her attention turned to Syaoran, "You saved Sakura!"

__

That's right.. Sakura thought, turning back to him, _He _did_ save me!_

"Thank you." She said, giving him a small smile.

"You two make such a great team." Added Tomoyo, "Perhaps you two can put differences behind and help each other?" 

Blushing furiously, he looked away with a frown. "Don't count on it." He told Tomoyo, before turning to Sakura, "If you were a real Card Captor then you wouldn't need saving. Don't think I'll do it again." He stated, walking away.

Meiling, who had just woken up, groggily ran after him, but not before stopping to glare at Sakura.

Luckily they were out of sight by the time Rika came to, and her friends helped her to her feet.

"What happened?" She asked, her hand on her head as they helped her stand, "I have such a headache.."

"You passed out." Tomoyo lied.

"I did?"

"Yeah," Added Sakura, "Must have been the sun or something – you just fainted on us! We were so worried!"

"I'm sorry.."

"Hey! Sakura!"

Sakura looked up to find Yukito waving at her, her brother by his side.

"Oh, sorry guys!" She said to her friends, "I gotta go. Will you two be okay?"

Tomoyo nodded, and smiled. "Go on. I'll take care of Rika. You've had a hard day."

Waving goodbye, Sakura joined the two older boys.

Tomoyo was right – she definitely had a hard day.

----------

He figure stepped out of the shadows, a bright smile on his face. Eriol had watched the whole scene in front of him, and silently congratulated Sakura in another great Card Capture – although she had not received the Card. Syaoran had.

__

But either way, he thought, _she will get them all in the end._ If_ she passes the Judgement. And Tomoyo was right, they _do_ make a good team – if only they'd see that for themselves. Maybe my plan will work after all...in time, however._

Seeing that the school yard was now empty, we walked into the sunlight.

They still have a long way to go. 

To Be Continued...

Poll: Okay guys, got a question! You can either leave a review or send me an email for this. What Card do you want Sakura to capture next? Just wondering what you readers want. If you have any ideas also, feel free to drop me a line. Thanks for reading!


	11. Syaoran’s Bad Day

All That She Is

Chapter Ten – Syaoran's Bad Day

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever. Although I wish I did...because playing around with Syaoran and Sakura is fun ^_~

Author's Notes – Thanks to popular demand, The Little Card will be the next Card Sakura encounters. However, not in this chapter :P This all leads up to it..had to, so that Syaoran would be in that chapter. For all the Meiling fans, sorry lol. I'm a Meiling fan myself, but things are going to be better from now on, I promise. She's gonna change. Another short chapter. Sorry, lol.

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol

Summary – Syaoran is having a _really_ bad day...

----------

Days later, Syaoran Li sat in his usual spot in the class, silently glaring at the back of Sakura's head. The past few days upon Sealing the Sword Card had been somewhat peaceful, with no more signs of any Cards. Syaoran had lain low, backing off from his mission to take the Cards from Sakura for a while. He had to make plans – he couldn't take the Cards away while Sakura had her friends and family around, and she never seemed to be alone.

I'd do anything for my friends. 

He silently laughed at that idea. Being a Card Captor meant making sacrifices – didn't she know that? _If not captured, the Cards can do much more damage,_ he thought, adverting his gaze to the window. It had been sunny that morning, but now clouds blocked the sunlight. _That's why I was sent here – Mother foretold that the Cards would someday appear, and it was my duty to capture them for our Clan._ His gaze turned back to Sakura, _And I can't let her stand in my way._

"You seem very interested in Sakura," Came a male voice, just loud enough for only Syaoran to hear, and Syaoran looked up to see Eriol smiling down at him, "Maybe you have feelings for her after all."

"Not in this life time," Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that." Eriol grinned, pulling up a chair.

"What're you doing?" Syaoran asked, completely oblivious to the fact they were just assigned work in pairs.

"So not only is she breath taking, but it effects your hearing as well?" He chuckled, "We're partners for this class – page 507."

Syaoran opened his Math book, flipping to the page. A long line of math problems stared back at him.

"Oh."

"Must be really bad if Syaoran Li of the Li Clan didn't hear a word the teacher said."

Syaoran growled. "Shut up."

He watched as Tomoyo pulled her chair over to Sakura's desk, and a few minutes later an exasperated groan could be heard.

"I'll never get this!"

"Don't say that, Sakura-chan.." Tomoyo encouraged her, "You just need to work at it."

"Maybe a tutor would help?" Eriol added, and both girls turned to look at him, "Syaoran here is a math genius."

"Really?" Sakura asked, giving Syaoran a smile that made him melt.

Damn her! Doesn't she get it that I hate her!? 

"Uh..yeah," Syaoran blushed, looking away. "But I'm not gonna..."

"Tutoring?" All four of them looked up to find Miss Mizuki smiling down at them. "Such a great idea! I'm sure Sakura would love the help."

"But.." He tried to protest, but he found himself outnumbered. Sinking low in his chair he sighed. _Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me? Now I'm stuck having to tutor her... _And idea came to mind_. This is it...my chance. If I can get into her house, I can get the Cards!_

"You look so...happy all of a sudden," Tomoyo pointed out to him, "What's on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing.." He lied, sitting up straight.

"I think he's happy that he's going to spend time with Sakura." Eriol whispered to Tomoyo, just loud enough for Syaoran to hear. He blushed furiously, trying to fix a glare at them both.

"Who's gonna be spending time with Kinomoto?" Meiling appeared with a frown.

Syaoran once again sunk down in his seat. This day was just getting worse!

"Syaoran."

"WHAT?" She yelled, and pointed a finger at Sakura, who had been quietly trying to figure out her math equation, "I thought I told you to stay away from my Syaoran-kun!"

Sakura winced, knowing that something was about to start and decided to go up to the teacher's desk to ask for help.

"YOUR Syaoran-kun?" Syaoran asked her, raising an eyebrow. "Since when am I your anything?"

"Since I broke up with Yamato." She stated, crossing her arms.

"And you think that everything's okay now – and we're back together?" He asked, glaring in her direction.

"Well, isn't it?" She asked quietly.

"No Meiling! I'm not going to be used like that – you had your chance with me and you threw it away!" He snapped. He was surprised that they hadn't disrupted the whole class by now. Their conversation _was_ rather loud.

"So you're saying that Kinomoto is better than me?" She asked, her eyes filling with tears.

"As much as I hate to say it, anyone is better – even Kinomoto – because you've turned into such a bitch, Meiling!"

She stared at him for a minute, before quickly and silently making her way towards the front of the room, and leaving the class. People stared after her, wondering what was up. Sighing, Syaoran turned his attention back to his friends – who stared silently at him.

"What?" Then he remembered...he had said aloud that Kinomoto was better than Meiling...and he mentally smacked himself.

"You sure told her!" Tomoyo smiled. "A bit harsh, but she'll get over it. She deserved to hear the truth."

"The truth that you _are_ interested in Sakura." Eriol winked at him, "I knew it!"

"Am not!" Syaoran blushed, trying hard to glare at them, "But she brought it up, so I figured I might as well say so!"

"Then why are you blushing?" Tomoyo asked, her smile widening.

"I'm just hot..that's all!"

"Right." She said, turning around to Sakura's empty desk.

"How can I like her? I can't stand her!" He hissed, mainly to ensure himself. There was no way he was in love with his enemy. No way in hell!

"So...Syaoran...when do you start your tutoring lessons with Sakura?" Eriol grinned.

"Ugh." Syaoran groaned, laying his head down on his desk.

Today was certainly a bad day.

To Be Continued... 


	12. The Start of A Little Problem

All That She Is

Chapter Eleven – The Start of A Little Problem

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever. Although I wish I did...because playing around with Syaoran and Sakura is fun ^_~

Author's Notes – Wow, I finally finished the next chapter, lol. It's taken me a long time, ne? I had writer's block for this chapter for a while, and I've been really busy and working on some of my other fics. So here it is, R&R, it'll be greatly appreciated :P

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol

Summary – Sakura gets her math tutoring, and everything's great until they hear a noise upstairs...

----------

Syaoran managed to make it through the rest of the school day without anything else going wrong. However, after school was another case. Miss Mizuki had suggested after math class that Syaoran start tutoring as soon as possible, as in right after school. He didn't like the idea very much – but he knew this was his chance to get the Cards.

"Kinomoto! Wait up!"

Sakura turned around, picking up her back pack that lay next to her locker, and absently closed and locked her locker as Syaoran made his way towards her.

"Miss Mizuki told me to make a study..date with you."

"Today?" She asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"Yeah," He smirked silently at her awkwardness around him, "You must really need the help, huh?"

This got her attention, and she glared furiously at him. "I may need help but I certainly don't need your help!" She spat, turning on her heals and heading down the hall.

__

This is great, he thought, _if she's mad at me then there's no way she's going to let me in her house to get the Cards. I guess I'll have to be nicer._ Making up his mind, he hurried through the halls to catch up to her.

"Kinomoto! Slow down!"

"I will not!"

Sighing, he grabbed hold of her arm and swung her around to face him. "Listen..I'm sorry."

She continued to glare at him for a moment, her green eyes flashing with dislike, but it soon faded. _He...apologized?_ She thought, confused, _he's disliked me from the start...and now he's being nice. He's so confusing...he can be nice one moment, and mean the next..._

"What?" He asked, seeing the conflicting emotions in her eyes.

"N..nothing," She said, snapping out of it, "I just...never expected you to apologize." She sat down for a moment, putting on her skates.

__

Neither did I, he thought, but voiced, "So do you have your math stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He gave her a smile, "So we'll go to your house?"

She gave him a suspicious eye, but nodded. "Touya has an interview for a job today, so it'll just be me and you – and Kero." She turned and continued, him following close behind.

__

That's right, he reminded himself, _I totally forgot about cotton fluff. How am I going to get around him? I guess I'll figure that one out when I get there._

They walked in silence for what seemed like forever, and Syaoran found himself sneaking peeks at the girl in front of him. She roller bladed slowly, enabling him to keep up with her, but to him, secretly, it was torturous. She even bladed graciously, her long bangs blowing softly in the wind, and she kept a even distance between them.

He frowned slightly, mentally kicking himself. _Stop it!_

"We're here!" She skidded to a halt in front of him, and he looked up to see the house she was indicating to. "Home sweet home." She smiled slightly, skating the rest of the way to her door before she stopped to pull off her skates.

Syaoran stood his ground, staring at the house. _This is it...no turning back once I enter._

"Are you coming?"

He snapped out of it to see her enter the house, holding the door open for him and staring at him with curious eyes. He adverted his gaze, suddenly feeling a bit guilty. He couldn't look into her innocent eyes, not when she had no clue what his real purpose here was. He nodded, silently following after her and stepping in to the porch of her house.

"Kero-chan! Kero! I'm home!" She called, setting her things down. She hadn't finished before the small Guardian zoomed down the stairs and latched on to her in a hug.

"Sakura-chan! It's about time! I've been waiting all day for you to get home and get me some pudding – I can't really get the fridge open in this state!"

"Oh Kero-chan," She giggled. Only when she finally pried him off did he notice that she had company.

"You!" He pointed at Syaoran, "What are YOU doing here?"

"I was invited, stuffed animal." Syaoran smirked at him, and Kero's fur bristled in anger.

"Stuffed animal? Why you!" He launched himself at the boy.

Sakura grabbed Kero by the tail before Kero could do anything drastic, and apologizing, dragged the Guardian of the Seal up the stairs and into her room for a talk, leaving Syaoran staring after them curiously.

"Calm down, Kero-chan! He's here to help me with my math – Miss Mizuki assigned him to be my tutor."

"But," He protested, "He's after the Clow Cards! It's my duty to protect them and my Mistress from harm!"

"I'm not in any danger, Kero." She pointed out. "Besides, what can he pull in my own house? I'll even leave the Cards up here, okay?" She took off her trusty pouch and laid it on her bed.

"Hmph." Kero crossed his arms, still mad.

"Still up for some pudding?" She asked, and his anger quickly faded.

"Yeah! Lets go!"

Sakura giggled, following him back down the stairs.

"Sorry about that." She apologized again to Syaoran, motioning for him to follow her. He soon found himself in what seemed to be their living room.

Kero flew across the room, settling down on a armrest of a chair and watched Syaoran like he was going to try something at any moment. Sakura disappeared in the kitchen for a moment, before her head popped back out. "Did you want something to eat, Li?"

He shook his head, settling down across from Kero, ignoring the puffball's small glaring eyes. Sakura returned to the kitchen to get some things, leaving the two of them alone.

"So what're you really doing here?" Kero asked, breaking the silence.

"Tutoring math." The boy smirked as he sat down.

Kero growled in frustration. "I know that's not the real reason! You're here to steal the Clow Cards!"

"Believe what you want," Syaoran said distractedly as he pulled out a few books, "But I'm here to tutor Math."

Both looked up as Sakura came back carrying a few cups, plates, half a cake and a jug of Kool-Aid. Syaoran blinked at this – how could such a petite girl carry all this? But then he remembered this wasn't any ordinary girl. She was the Card Mistress. Either way, he reached out and offered to help, hiding the small blush as their fingers touched briefly.

"Sorry Kero, there's no pudding left." She said, before smiling at Syaoran, "I brought extras just in case you decided to change your mind." She said, taking a seat next to Syaoran.

Kero didn't seem to mind about the pudding, and was now drooling over the cake as Sakura cut him a big piece and laid it down for him to eat. He dug in, stuffing his mouth with chocolate, crumbs flying everywhere.

"Does he always eat like this?" Asked Syaoran, watching in amusement.

Sakura nodded.

"You're not a stuffed animal – you're a stuffed pig!" He finally said to Kero as the last bit of cake disappeared into the Guardian's mouth.

"Hey!" Kero glared, licking his paws.

"Would you like a piece?" Sakura offered, cutting herself one.

"After what I just witnessed? Maybe later."

She shrugged, setting down and taking out her books.

"So when do we start?"

-----

"No! You times the matrices by each other column by row, and add them together to get the answer!" Syaoran explained again, letting his annoyance show.

Sakura sighed, letting her head fall to the table. "I'll never get this!"

They had been at it for hours now, and so far they hadn't made much progress.

Syaoran stared at the girl for a moment. I knew she was bad at math...but I never knew she was this bad!

"Oh, come on Kinomoto," He said, "If you give up now you'll never understand it."

She groaned, sitting up straight. "I guess you're right. Where were we?"

"Matrices. Multiplying them."

"Okay," She said, picking up her pencil and resuming her math.

Syaoran watched as she did so, noting that she was getting it right up until the last bit.

"No, no, no," She said, taking her pencil and leaning in to show her, "Like this."

She watched as he showed her, and smiled as he finished for her. "I understand now!" She grabbed the pencil from him and started the next question, finishing it and handing it to Syaoran. "Is it right?"

He looked it over, and nodded in approval.

She suddenly jumped up, happy that she finally figured out how to do the math they were doing. Before she knew it, she was hugging a very surprised Syaoran. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said happily, "You've been such a great help!"

Syaoran sat motionless, letting her hug him and taking in her warmth. He was blushing furiously, unsure of what to do or how to act. His heart was beating wildly but he ignored it. _She's the enemy...I'm on a mission...we're done and I haven't even got the Cards yet..._

With those thoughts in mind he went to push her away, but a crash upstairs stopped him. Sakura, who was still hugging him, suddenly went quiet.

"What was that?" She whispered, noting that Kero was asleep not far away. "There's nobody else here except us...and Kero's downstairs with us..."

Another crash came from upstairs, and Sakura jumped at the sound, hugging Syaoran closer.

"Maybe we should go check..." He managed to say, watching as the smaller girl buried her head in his chest.

"What if it's a ghost?" She asked in a small voice.

"You're not afraid of ghosts, are you?" He laughed, and became silent when he realized she was. "There's no such thing as ghosts, Kinomoto."

Blushing, she let go and glared up at him. "Don't make fun of me! I can't help it!"

He was mildly disappointed that she had moved away from him, but there were other things to worry about now. He rolled his eyes at her, "You're sixteen and you still believe in ghosts." All past emotions gone, and the tutoring over, he once again returned to himself. He no longer had to be nice to her.

Sakura crossed her arms, frowning. _He's such an asshole. And here I thought he was actually kind of nice for once._ "Then why don't you go up there and see what it is? If it's not a ghost then it's something else!"

"It's your house. You should go check." He imitated her by crossing his arms. _This is going nowhere...I'll never get those Cards now. Maybe next time._

"But what if it's a burglar?"

"I'm sure you can handle it." He said, picking up his things. "Oh, look at the time, I should be going now."

"Argh! You're such a gentleman, Li!" Sakura said sarcastically as she made her way over to the closet and started searching for something. She soon found it – her brother's old baseball bat. Taking it out, she swung it for good measure. "Good enough."

"You have fun swinging bats at those ghosts of yours." Li laughed as he put his shoes on, receiving another glare from Sakura.

"Oh, go play in the streets Li!" She yelled, slamming the door behind him as he left her alone in the house. A great silence followed, and she felt a shiver of fear go up her spine as she made her way to the stairs.

All was silent upstairs as she made her way down the small hallway. Stopping outside her room, she peered in. It was empty. Good, she thought, making her way to her bed and picking up her Cards, These might come in handy. Now, where did that sound come from..?

Turning around, she came face to face with the culprit. She screamed as something hit her, and the floor came rushing up to meet her.

-----

"Kinomoto?" Syaoran, who had been waiting outside just in case something or someone really was in the house, heard the scream from outside. Sticking his head in and peering through a crack in the door, he found the house silent once more. Opening the door, he stepped back in and dropped his things on the floor. "Kinomoto? Are you okay?"

Finding a set of stairs that he guessed led to the upstairs part of the house, he slowly made his way up.

"Kinomoto?" He peered into the first room, which appeared to be her brother's room. The room was empty.

Looking into the second room, he found it more girlish. "Sakura?"

There was no answer. He shrugged, preparing to go to the next room when it suddenly came to him. He was standing in the doorway of Sakura's bedroom...with Sakura gone only god knows where. It was the perfect time to get the Cards. He smirked. Now if only I can find them...

He entered the room, his gaze searching for a hint of where they could be. He found nothing.

"Now...if I were a girl, where would I hide them?" He whispered to himself, his eyes catching on a big wooden dresser not far away. "Aha!" He started to move towards it, and opened one drawer It contained nothing but...

Underwear. Syaoran blushed furiously, and closed the drawer quickly.

A noise behind him made him turn around, but as his eyes searched the room he found nothing. Shrugging, he went to go for the next drawer...and that's when it attacked. A ball of color. All it did was touch him, and he felt a strange change in himself. He was suddenly growing smaller, and soon he was so small it seemed everything loomed over him.

A Clow Card...he thought, looking up, I should have known. He jumped as he heard a voice behind him.

"Well I hope you enjoyed yourself!"

Syaoran turned to face Sakura, who stood with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

"Huh?" _So _this_ is where she went...she's been here all along. Which means..._

"Did you see anything you liked? Picking through my underwear drawer! Really Li, I didn't know you were such a pervert!"

"I-I did not!" He blushed furiously. He had been caught. But it wasn't his fault! How could he have known what was in that drawer!

"I've grown small, not blind." She said nastily. "Don't think I didn't see you!"

"Whatever, Kinomoto. I was looking for something else, and I just happened to open the wrong one, okay?" He shot back, trying to regain his composure.

"Looking for this?" Sakura flashed the Cards at him, and he frowned, "Too bad Li, because you're not getting them."

He growled in frustration, and lunged forward. 

"Wanna bet?" He said, wrestling her to the ground, sitting on top of her and holding her arms so she couldn't struggle. However, she did her best not to make it easy for him. She tried kicking out at him, but failed.

"Let me go!"

"Not until I get the Cards!" He smirked at her, suddenly realizing this was it. She couldn't escape, and had no friends, family or Guardian to protect her. The Cards were his at last. Holding her arms together tightly, he reached for the Cards...

"Don't you dare Syaoran Li!" She cried out, struggling harder.

A noise stopped him, and he strained to hear it. She noticed this, and took advantage of his pause to free her arms. He didn't seem to notice.

"What're you-"

"Shh!" He quieted her, putting his hand over her mouth. "Do you hear that?"

She heard nothing, and biting his finger, she jerked free of him, getting to her feet and putting some distance between them. "You're crazy!"

"Just listen!"

She sighed, and did as he said. It was then that she heard it. It was the sound of wings flapping, and it was coming this way..

"Oh no..." She groaned, "It's Kero-Chan!"

To Be Continued...


	13. One Problem Solved

All That She Is

Chapter Twelve – One Problem Solved..

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever.

Author's Notes – Wow, hey, its another chapter, lol. Amazed? I sure am. Considering I had both the last chapter and this one finished on the same day. My mad writing skills are back XD lol. But sadly I never posted it until now. Anyway, I'd like to point out that this fic is also being posted on mediaminer.org now. I'd also like to thank all my reviewers ^_^ Yeah, so enjoy the fic! Could be the last bit for a while :P R&R much appreciated.

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol

Summary – Sakura and Syaoran must put their differences aside in order to get out of this one.

----------

"Oh no...it's Kero-Chan!" She groaned, just as the now large Guardian Beast floated into the room, looking around curiously.

"Sakura?" He looked around the room, but didn't see anyone. "Now where'd they go? Sakura wouldn't leave me without telling me where she's going.."

"He doesn't see us." Syaoran observed.

"Well I'll make him see us!" Sakura said, and then began yelling out Kero's name as loud as she could.

"He won't hear you either."

"Well maybe if you'd shut up and help me he would!" Sakura snapped angrily.

"Why would I call out to the dumb fluff ball? If you were any good at being a Card Captor than you could seal this Card by yourself." Syaoran pointed out.

"I don't need his help!" Sakura insisted, getting really frustrated, "But he won't be much help is he gets shrunk down too! I have to warn him!"

"Whatever." He grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Kero-chan! KERO-CHAN!" She called again.

Up above, Kero did not look down. However, his ear twitched. "I feel something..."

"See! He does know we're here!" Sakura grinned, jumping up and down, "Down here! Kero-Chan!"

A rumbling in the Guardian's stomach. "Ah, thought so! I'm hungry again!" Kero smiled brightly as he started to leave the room, "Maybe there's some cake left..."

"Kero-Chan!" Sakura groaned, sinking to her knees as she watched him leave. _Him and his stupid stomach!_

"Told you so."

Sakura chose to ignore him. "Now what're we going to do?"

"Well I think we've already figured out what Card it is."

"The Little." She said, standing up.

"And what do you do with Cards when they're on the loose?"

She shot a glare at him. _What does he think I am? An amateur? I've been doing this for years without help!_ She pulled her necklace off, and said the magic words that extended the key into the Sealing Wand.

"Good call. Now all we have to do is find it.." Syaoran looked around, but could find nothing. "Wherever it is..."

"It's going to be hard to find from down here." She said, looking over the room, "And even harder to seal."

"That's why we have to get big before we do it."

"Would the..."

"No." He interrupted.

"Okay that's it," Sakura said, mad at being interrupted, "Must you be so mean to me? I've had it up to _here_ with you today! I'm tired of you pushing me around. We're stuck in this together, so we might as well work together. That means no more sarcastic, snide or mean remarks, okay? I know you can be nice Li, you were earlier! So try doing so now!" She huffed, turning away from him. "I'm getting out of this, with or without you. It's your choice."

"Fine." He said shaking his head, "All hatred, Cards and stuff aside. For now. Only until we get out of this." He agreed.

"Good." She said. "Now how are we going to get out of this?"

"The only way to return to our normal size is to touch it again. But first we have to get close to it. And once we are our normal size, you have to quickly seal it or we'll be back where we started." He answered, looking up at the bed. "Maybe if we climbed up here we can get a better view."

"Good idea." She said, looking up at her bed. If they were up there they would have a clear view of the room.

"So let's go." He said, grabbing hold of the bedspread and starting the big climb.

"Wait!" She said, looking up at the great distance they'd have to climb. "What if one of us falls? It's a long way down..."

"Just don't look down." He smirked down at her and continued to climb.

Mumbling, Sakura converted her wand back into the key and grabbed hold of her bed spread and started the climb too. It wasn't an easy one either, as she soon realized. The bedspread was hard to hold on to with her small hands, and her feet easily slipped as she tried her best to pull herself up. She did okay up until halfway, and that was when she started to slip and slide.

"Hurry up, Kinomoto!" Syaoran said in an annoyed voice at the top. He had made it not long ago, and was now eyeing the room and waiting for Sakura to finish her climb. "You're too slow!"

"Well I can't help it if I'm having trouble!" She said through gritted teeth. _Not much farther...don't look down...almost there..._

"You're almost there," He pointed out, "So hurry it up."

"I am hurrying!" She yelled, glaring up at him and noticing he was right. She was almost there. Just a little farther and she'd be able to pull herself up on to the bed. Just don't look down...

She screamed as she slipped.

Syaoran looked down at the girl, who was now holding on with only one hand, unable to get a grip. Sighing, he reached his hand down. "Give me your hand."

"I-I can't." She said, looking up at him with fearful eyes.

"Come on Kinomoto, you can do it." He insisted, and reached his hand farther. "Just let go and grab my hand. I won't let you fall."

"You expect me to believe you?" She said, forcing herself to look up, and not down.

"Well would you rather fall and be known as Kinomoto – the girl who got flattened by falling off her bed? Now come on!"

"Y-you promise you won't let me fall?" She asked.

"I promise! Now come on! You're wasting valuable time!"

"Okay...." She reached out with her free hand, barely touching his. "I can't reach!"

"Yes you can, try harder!"

She tried again, reaching just a bit farther. It was then that her last grip slipped, and she screamed as she fell. However, Syaoran managed to grab hold of her hand before she was out of reach. She stared up at him, a thankful look on her face.

"Hey, I told you I wouldn't let you fall." He smirked, pulling her up, "I'm not that cruel."

Breathing hard, Sakura clasped on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I really thought I was going to die just then."

"Yeah, well you didn't. So get up. We have a job to do." He said, standing up and dusting himself off before looking around the room. "I wonder-"

"Thank you Li."

He turned to find Sakura staring at him, a smile on her face.

"What for?"

"For saving my life...again." She said, trying to stand. "That was the third time you did it. And I just realized...I never said thank you."

"Yeah, well.." Syaoran blushed slightly, and turned away.

Sakura dusted herself off. "I just don't see how you can be such an asshole all the time...and be so nice every now and then. Why don't you just be nice all the time-"

"No." He said before she could finish.

"Why not?" She asked, coming over to stand by his side. "You're always frowning...but before you found out who I was, you were always so nice to me...you smiled a lot too."

Syaoran crossed his arms, looking away. "That was before I found out you have my family's Cards. The Cards I was sent here to collect."

"That still doesn't explain why we have to be enemies."

"Yes it does. You have my Cards. I have to collect them. It's my destiny. And I'll get them from you no matter what, and since you won't hand them over, that makes us enemies."

"I can't just hand them over." She said softly. "I have a destiny too, I have to be the Clow Mistress. I opened the book, and now I must collect the Cards and seal them back to their original state. Kero and Yue have told me this is my destiny, that I've been chosen by Clow Reed himself. I can't just back out and give the Cards to you."

"Yue?" Syaoran looked at Sakura curiously. "What does the Moon Guardian have anything to do with this? He has yet to appear, has he not?"

"That's right. But he sometimes comes to me in my dreams." She smiled softly, looking out over her room. "His time will come soon. I must be prepared, Kero says. The end could be any day now. Yue will be the Final Judgement."

"You will stand against Yue and you will fail." Said Syaoran. "He was Clow's finest Guardian. You won't be able to beat him. Especially since I'll be taking the Cards. It is my destiny to face Yue, not yours. Either I bring back those Cards or I am a disgrace to the Li Clan, and I will _not_ be a disgrace."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but Syaoran interrupted her before she could.

"Enough. We're getting off track. We have to seal The Little." He said, walking away from her.

"Okay then....so where is it?" She asked, slowly walking after him.

"It couldn't have gone very far."

"I don't see how it got in here in the first place." Sakura muttered.

"Maybe next time you'll remember to close your window." Syaoran motioned to the open window as the curtains fluttered in the slight breeze.

"Oh." She said guiltily. "What if it got out already?"

"I doubt it. I can still sense it. It's definitely around here somewhere."

"But where's it hiding at?"

"I don't know...but it'll have to show sometime." He said, finally stopping. "I wish it would hurry. Its getting dark and I'd rather be long gone by the time your brother gets home."

Sakura giggled. "Touya doesn't like you very much."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed that when he tried to kill me the night I brought you home. And the other encounter..."

An uncomfortable silence followed. However, this was soon broken by a flash of light.

"Get ready! This is it!"

Pulling off her necklace once again, she closed her eyes as the circle of power appeared beneath her feet. "Oh Key of Clow, Power of magic, Power of light...Surrender the wand, The force ignite!...Release!" Her hands gripped the wand tightly, and she stood motionless, waiting for the Card to make its move.

Syaoran stood beside her, his sword already called upon, watching like a hawk for another flash. He did not have to wait long, as it zipped out from behind the dresser, and flew towards them.

"Remember, we have to touch it to get back to normal!" Syaoran said, readying himself.

Sakura nodded, watching as it got closer and closer.

Just as it zipped past them, both Sakura and Syaoran tackled it, both managing to touch it. Sakura soon found herself her normal size and on top of Syaoran on her bed, her face very close to his. She blushed, looking into his eyes.

"We did it." She said quietly. He could only nod in response, drawn to her emerald eyes. They were pretty far away, but they were even more beautiful up close. And those lips...he couldn't help himself...he started to lean in..

Sakura saw his head move even closer to hers, and closed her eyes in anticipation. _He's going to kiss me...the guy I hate most in this world is going to kiss me...and I want him to..._

Their lips were almost touching when...

Loud footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs, followed by a male voice, "SAKURA!"

She literally jumped away from Syaoran, smoothing out her skirt just as Touya burst into the room. His eyes immediately landed on Syaoran, who still looked kind of dazed.

"You! What are _you _doing in my sister's room??" He barked, glaring draggers at the younger boy.

It was then Sakura saw it, just out of the corner of her eye.

"Touya! Move!" She cried, picking up her wand and swinging it at the ball of glowing light just as it was zooming across the room in Touya's direction. She had totally forgotten about the Card with the whole..predicument that she had ended up in. But now as she swung the wand, it connected with its target. "Show thy true form to me...Little Card!"

The ball of light grew, and took on a more humanoid shape. It stared up at her with large eyes. "You know, for something that's caused so much trouble, you're really quite cute." She smiled, before bringing her wand down on it again. "Little Card! Returned to your powers confined!"

A swirl of colors surrounded her, and as the darkness and colors faded, she stared up at her new Card, which hovered in the air in front of her. Taking hold of it, she winked at Touya, who was staring at her with his mouth wide open. He had never seen her capture any of these 'Cards', and it was all new to him.

"You were saying?" She asked, putting the Card with the rest. Kero would surely be proud with her this time!

"Uhm...uh..." He was speechless.

"Hey Touya," Came a voice, "Did you find..Sakura!" Kero yelled, spotting her. He launched himself at her and held on for dear life. "Why did you go away and leave me without telling me? What if something happened and I wasn't there to help! And why is the Chinese gaki still here?"

Sakura looked over at Syaoran, who was finally sitting up.

"He helped me capture this Card," She said, reaching in and taking it back out. She stared at it for a moment, ignoring Kero's questions. She then did something that sent Kero into a state of shock. She handed the Card to Li. He stared at it, before looking up and studying her face.

"Take it." She smiled, "I would have never gotten though any of it without your help."

"Sakura! What are you doing??' Cried Kero.

"T-thanks." He said, taking it from her, noticing the mad look on Kero's face, "I probably should be going..."

Sakura continued to ignore him. "Come on Li, I'll show you to the door." She said, stepping past Touya who was still standing there in amazement at what just happened. Syaoran followed not far behind.

"So I guess after you leave its back to being enemies and being mean old Li again, huh?" She asked, watching him as he put his shoes on.

"Yeah." He said quietly.

She nodded as he opened the door, grabbing his stuff as he left.

"Guess I'll be seeing you around then," She smiled, before closing the door behind him. _Boys were certainly confusing. One minute they're nice, the next they're mean, then the next they're trying to kiss you. Men – I'll never understand them._

"Sakura! You have some explaining to dooo!"

Speaking of which, she still had two upstairs to deal with. She sighed, shaking her head and smiling as she went back upstairs.

They're impossible too. 

To Be Continued...


	14. Meiling's Threat

All That She Is

Chapter Thirteen – Meiling's Threat

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever.

Author's Notes – Ah, so here's the long awaited next chapter of All That She is ^_~ I'm back into the CCS fandom again, so I have a lot of CCS fics on the go, and I'm writing more of my old CCS fics. So go check them out :P So yup, here it is. A lot shorter than the last, but that's because the last one was a Card capture...and there's no Cards in this one :P Anyway, hope you enjoy, and remember to R & R!

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - 

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol

Summary – Sakura's tired and confused, and Meiling decides it's time to make Sakura pay.

----------

Sakura sighed, laying her head down on her desk. She was tired...very tired. Touya had kept her up late the night before asking questions, and Kero had been in a foul mood ever since he had watched her hand the card over to the 'chinese gaki', as he put it. Kero had kept her up all night complaining and trying to talk some sense into her. She had gotten about an hour's sleep.

"Sakura?" A voice startled her as she was just about to doze off on her desk. She looked up to see Tomoyo staring down at her, "You don't look so well." Her friend observed.

Sakura groaned, covering her head with her arms. So not only was she tired, but it showed! How horrible she must had looked with her sleep deprived eyes. She felt like crawling under a rock and dying....or at least sleeping. Sleeping would be fine. But school called, and Touya had insisted she go, even though she had pleaded with him.

"No sleep last night?" Tomoyo grinned at her friend, sitting down across from her.

Sakura peered over at her with one tired eye. "Yeah...Touya and Kero had me up all night."

"Ah," Tomoyo nodded sympathetically, "Your brother most likely wasn't happy with your study date, huh? How did that go anyway?"

Sakura rolled her eyes in response, "A Clow Card showed up. What do you think?"

"Hey! You should have phoned me! I have the prettiest little outfit all lined up!" Tomoyo pouted as she took out her books, but then she giggled, "I imagine that you didn't get much studying done then."

"Oh, we studied...Li's a great teacher," Replied Sakura, sitting up, "But he lacks in the hero department. Before I found out it was a Clow Card, I thought it was a burglar...and you know what he did? He left me!"

"That doesn't sound like Syaoran.."

"Well...he did come back. But I was alone and scared until I found out it was a Clow Card...and even more scared when I shrank smaller than Kero!"

"You shrank?" Tomoyo asked, interested.

"It was the Little Card." Sakura informed her, "Has the ability to shrink things."

"Ooohh! So how'd that go?"

"Well, he ended up getting shrunk too," Sakura decided to skip a bit, "And we had to climb my bed and tackle the Card so we would be returned to our normal size...and I ended up on top of Li.." She blushed furiously, unable to continue as she remembered the almost kiss. Was he really going to kiss her, or was it just her imagination? She was always bad when it came to these things...

__

I'm such a baka, she scolded herself, _of course he wasn't going to kiss me! This is Syaoran Li we're talking about! He's out to steal the Cards from me! It was just my imagination...looking into things too far._

Tomoyo grinned at her friend as she blushed, and told her the rest of the story, obviously leaving out some things. _Damn, I obviously missed some kawaii moments!_

The bell rang over head, and voices could be heard as people piled into classrooms and went to their lockers to get their things. Sakura sighed, lowering her head and tried to block out the noise. She was starting to get a migraine, and the loud noises were only making it worse.

Beside her, Tomoyo watched her friend sympathetically. She must really be tired, she thought, before the sound of footsteps made her look up. Eriol entered the room carrying books, a wide grin on his face. Tomoyo mentally took note of it. Why's he so happy?

"Konnichiwa Tomoyo-chan," He greeted, taking his seat. He then looked down at Sakura, who still had her face covered, "Sakura-chan."

She only groaned in reply.

"She's tired." Tomoyo answered for her.

"Ah," Eriol nodded with that same grin.

"Why're you so happy?" Tomoyo finally asked.

Eriol shook his head, "It's just such a beautiful day...I can't help but smile," He replied. _That, and because my Card Mistress caught yet another Card last night,_ he added in his head. With the help of a certain descendant of mine. His smile widened at that. He had watched the entire capture from the crystal ball at his mansion. He had seen everything.

-----

Syaoran groaned as Meiling shut his locker on him, leaning against it as she stared up into his amber eyes. She wore a low white tank top and short jean shorts, but none of this caught his eyes. Her eyes were burning into his with fury, so much that he couldn't look away.

"What do you want, Meiling?" He finally asked with a sigh.

"Where were you yesterday?" She asked with a cool voice.

"I had to tutor Kinomoto math, remember?"

Her eyes grew darker at the mention of the girl's name. "I thought I told you to stay away from her!"

"Meiling, I didn't have a choice!" He hissed back angrily, "Miss Mizuki made me do it. And besides, I don't have to listen to anything you say." He started to walk away from her, but she grabbed his arm and forced him to look at her again.

"Oh yes you do Syaoran!" She stated angrily, gripping his arm tightly.

He shrugged her off. "You dumped me Meiling...you have no right to tell me what to do."

"I'm still your fiancée!" She cried, "And I don't want to see you oogling after that Kinomoto girl!"

"I'm not oogling!" He insisted, "And I can do whatever I want! You dumped _me_, Meiling. Not the other way around!"

"But I'm your fiancée," She crossed her arms, "And I forbid you to see other girls."

"Oh, that makes sense," He rolled his eyes, "You can date other people, but I'm not even allowed to look at other girls?"

Meiling clenched her teeth in response. "I'm not dating other people. I stopped seeing Yamato, remember?"

"So? You still dated him. Not that I care or anything, just pointing out the obvious."

"Yeah, well I'm not now." The fire in Meiling's eyes suddenly dulled, and a longing look replaced it, "And I think that we should get back together."

Syaoran's mouth dropped. "WHAT?" Just what was she thinking? First she dumped him and dated around, and all of a sudden she wanted to get back together? Just like that?

"You heard what I said," She came closer, her mouth just inches from his ear, "I want to go out with you again, Syaoran. We're meant to be, and I realized that now. You're my fiancée...I want to spend the rest of my life with you." 

Her breath tickled his ear, and he moved backwards as he stared into her eyes. Was she joking? It all had to be some kind of joke. Did she really expect him to come crawling back to her? This was insane!

"Meiling! No!" He said angrily, realizing that people were giving them weird looks. "There's no way in hell I'm going back out with you!"

"But Syaoran," She pouted, "In a few years we're going to be married!"

__

Not if I can help it, He thought as he tried to back away from her. "No, Meiling."

She suddenly became angry again, and her temper flared. "What do you mean no?" She cried, and the hall hushed as they watched the scene, "We're destined to be! We're betrothed! How can you turn me down! It's that Kinomoto girl, isn't it?" She hissed, her voice lowering menacingly, "You like her, don't you?"

"That's not it Meiling!" He stared, and she interrupted.

"I told her to stay away! I warned her!" She seethed, "But I'll make her pay, Syaoran. I'll make her pay."

With that, Meiling turned on her heels and left, leaving Syaoran staring after her. He sighed, looking down at the floor before composing himself enough to walk down the hall. A dozen eyes followed him.

"What are you looking at?" He turned around, "The show is over! Get to class!"

The audience looked at each other before shrugging and doing what they were told. 

Syaoran sighed as he walked into the class, late, all because of Meiling. Walking past Eriol and Tomoyo, he noticed the auburn haired girl who had her head on her table as if she was asleep. He smiled slightly at the sight of her, remembering the day before, but the smile was cut off as he spotted Meiling's cold glare.

I'll make her pay. 

Just what did she mean by that? And why was she blowing everything out of proportion? Kinomoto had nothing to do with him not going back out with her. He had no feelings what so ever for the sleeping girl in front of him, he assured himself as he took his seat.

But why did his heart skip a beat whenever he looked at her?

He sighed, putting his head down on his desk as well.

Everything was getting so confusing...

To Be Continued...


	15. A Warning Or A Threat?

All That She Is

Chapter Fourteen – A Warning Or A Threat?

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – Don't own CCS, nor will I ever.

Author's Notes – Well, here's another chapter. Told you I was on a CCS writing streak, lol. Got up this morning and just started to write...and here's the result. It's a lot longer than the last, and a bit better, I hope. Still no action, but that's coming later. Hehehe...can't wait to write more. Sadly, I'm going away today at some point...so I don't know when the next chapter will be out. Ah well...you'll just have to wait to find out :P

For Latest Updates On Crow's Fanfiction - 

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran (eventually), Tomoyo/Eriol

Summary – Plans for Eriol's party are made, meanwhile Meiling makes up her own plans. Syaoran gives Sakura the Sword Card, but what does his note mean? Is it a warning or a threat?

----------

Sakura yawned, opening her eyes as Tomoyo sat next to her under the cherry blossom tree. It was gorgeous out, the sun was shining brightly and it was fairly warm. It was lunch time, and both girls had decided to eat outdoors in the nice weather for a change. Naoko, Rika and Chiharu had joined them as well, and they sat in a circle beneath the pink colored tree.

"Hey Rika, what do you have for lunch?" Naoko smirked, grabbing her friends lunch and inspecting it. "Got anything you want to trade?" She picked through it as Rika watched, "Hey...what's this?" Taking out a sandwich, she gagged. "Ew! Tuna!" She handed the bag back, and Rika stuck out her tongue in response.

"Here," Tomoyo offered her a peanut butter sandwich, "I packed two just in case."

Rika took it with a grin. "Thanks."

"May I join you?" Came a male voice, and everyone looked up to see Eriol standing before them.

"Yeah, sure." Said Tomoyo, with a grin as she made room for him next to her. He smiled at her as he sat down.

"So are you all going to the party I'm throwing this Friday?" He asked, his eyes landing on Sakura.

"A party?" She asked, blinking. This was the first time she had heard about any party. "What's it for?"

Chiharu giggled. "You don't need a reason to have a party, Sakura."

"It's just a big get together thing. I'm inviting only the people I know." Eriol answered, smiling as Tomoyo put her head on his lap. She smiled in response as he gently brushed a stray hair behind her ears.

"Do we have to dress up?" Sakura asked, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Nope. It's just a formal party..you can wear whatever you want."

"Awww," Tomoyo groaned, "Now I can't make Sakura a pretty dress!"

Sakura giggled at her friend. Tomoyo had yet to been able to make her a dress, since she had been to none of the latest Card captures, and now she couldn't even make her one for a simple party. She promised herself to make it up to her by bringing her the next time a Card showed up.

"Well you can help me pick out what to wear." Sakura offered, and Tomoyo sat up suddenly.

"That's a good idea! I'll swing around before seven and help you dress, and then we can walk from there. Eriol's house isn't far from yours." She exclaimed, happy again.

"Then I can show you my house," Sakura smiled, "I don't think you've been in it yet."

"Ooh! And I'll just have to tape everything!" Tomoyo exclaimed with stars in her eyes. "It's all too kawaii to miss!"

The group sweatdropped, and Sakura grinned widely. "Sounds good to me."

"Yeah," Said Rika, "I can't wait for Friday to come!"

Naoko rolled her eyes with a smile. "Now she'll be excited for the rest of the day!"

They continued to talk about the upcoming weekend that wasn't too far off and the plans for the party. However, Meiling tuned them out as she stood behind a nearby bush.

__

So, Kinomoto's going to Eriol's party, huh? She smirked to herself. _It makes it all the easier for me. I'll show her the strength of a true warrior! And if she loses...she'll have to hand those damn Cards over, and I'll give them to Syaoran!_ She beamed. _He'll be sooo happy with me! He'll definitely go out with me after that!_

Meiling narrowed her eyes, looking back at the laughing group. _I'll make you sorry for ever looking at Syaoran, Kinomoto! Just you wait!_

With that, she shrugged her hair over she shoulder and walked away as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

Sakura got up, stretching her muscles. "What do we have next?"

"A math quiz." Answered Eriol, who laughed as her mouth dropped.

"A...math quiz?"

"Yeah, weren't you listening the other day?" Tomoyo poked her with a grin.

"No...I was too busy trying to figure out the questions!" Sakura groaned.

"Well hopefully all that tutoring yesterday will help you." Tomoyo winked, causing Sakura to blush.

"Hopefully." She said softly, walking back into school. Grabbing the book she would need for the afternoon from her locker, she made her way towards her math class, dreading it with every step.

"You ready?" Asked Tomoyo, who waited for her at the door. Sakura nodded as she followed Tomoyo in and sat in her seat. 

It was then Syaoran walked in, late for the second time today. Sakura wondered what kept him late, but decided not to ask. He would probably ignore her or insult her anyway. As he passed by her, however, he laid something face down on her desk. Sakura blinked, staring at it. Picking it up, she saw that it was the Sword Card, but there was a note attached to it.

You need this more than I do. Watch your back, and good luck. 

She turned the note over but found no more writing. Confused, she turned around to look at him, but he refused to meet her eyes. What did he mean 'watch your back'? she wondered. Was that a threat from him? But then why would he say good luck? Still confused, she turned back to her desk with an uneasy feeling.

"You know the rules everyone," Miss Muzuki said as she started handing out the quizes, "No cheating. If I catch you it's an automatic zero. Please take all books and stuff off your desk, and keep only what you need."

"Good luck." She whispered as she handed Sakura her's.

Sakura gulped as the paper was laid in front of her, and she clenched one eye shut as she turned the paper over. She slowly opened it as she realized it was the stuff Syaoran had taught her how to do the day before.

__

This'll be easy! She smiled, working down through them and checking them over to make sure they were right. It seemed time passed by quickly, because she had just finished when Miss Mizuki declared that she was collecting the papers, and that everyone should stop writing.

Sakura sighed, sitting back in her chair.

"How was it?" Tomoyo whispered to her once their papers had been collected.

"It was...okay." Sakura grinned at her. She had never been any good at math, but Syaoran's tutoring had helped her a lot. She made a mental note to thank him later on, and to ask about the Card and note.

"Okay," Mizuki smiled, "Take out your math books. We're going to start something new today."

Sakura groaned, picking her book out of her bag. There was only about twenty minutes of class left, and she was going to make them do work? Oh how Sakura loathed math class!

Twenty confusing minutes later, Sakura walked out of her math class and into the busy hall. All around her kids were scrambling to get to their next class, but Sakura paid no attention to it. She had Art next, and her class wasn't very far away. However, her mind still was.

__

Why did he give back the Card? She asked herself as she walked, _It was rightfully his. Why would I need it more than he does?_ The answer to that question came to her. _Oh, right...he already has a sword, so why would he need two? But why did he warn me to watch my back?_

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts as she walked into the next class, which went by a lot faster than her last class. She grinned as the bell soon rang over head, and she ran to meet up with Tomoyo.

"Are we going back to get our marks?" Asked Tomoyo.

Before Math class had let out, Miss Mizuki had told them their papers would be corrected before the end of the day, and they could come back afterwards and get their marks if they wanted to.

Sakura nodded. She was eager to find out what she had gotten on the math quiz.

"Lets go then." Tomoyo smiled, but it faded as she remembered something, "What was it that Syaoran gave you before the quiz?"

"The Sword Card." Sakura said in a hushed whisper so no one would hear.

"What?" Tomoyo looked at her funny, "Why would he do that?"

"I have no idea." Sakura confessed, and handed Tomoyo the note, "He left this too."

Tomoyo glanced over it. "That's strange."

"I know." The other girl admitted with a sigh, "Is it a warning or a threat? I have no idea!"

Tomoyo shrugged, entering the math class. Miss Mizuki sat at her desk, and looked up as the two girls entered.

"Ah, Tomoyo..Sakura, I'm guessing you're here to get your marks?"

Both girls nodded as they watched her go through the papers in search of theirs. Sakura secretly crossed her fingers, hoping she at least passed it.

"Here you go," She handed the papers to the girls.

"I got a 98." Tomoyo grinned, looking over her paper.

Sakura took a big breath before looking down at her's, but she was soon rewarded. "I got an 85!" She declared happily.

"Good job Sakura!" Tomoyo smiled at her friend.

"I'm very impressed, Sakura," Said Miss Mizuki, "Tutoring has really helped you. I think that you should continue to be tutored by Syaoran. I'll speak to him tomorrow about it."

Sakura's smile faded. More tutoring with Li? Not that she really minded, but after the last tutoring session....her brother would kill him if he ever stepped foot in their house again. Nevermind what Kero might do. She sighed. Perhaps she could convince him to take her to his house instead? But then there would be Meiling to put up with...

She shrugged. She'd think of something better later. At the moment, she was happy with her mark, and couldn't wait to show her family. With a smile on her face, she left the room and got her things. Today hadn't been such a bad day after all, despite how tired she was.

To Be Continued...


	16. Unexpected Vistors

All That She Is

Chapter Fifteen – Unexpected Visitors

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Long time no see, huh? ;) Well, I'm back with another installment to my fic. Sadly, there's no Sakura/Syaoran in this chapter…he's not even in it, actually. But don't worry, there will be some action soon! Thanks for all the reviews, and R&R! Enjoy! :P

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

----------

"Touya!" She called as she entered her house with a big smile on her face. Closing the door behind her, she waited for his reply.

"What do you want, squirt?" His voice came from the kitchen, and she quickly took off her roller blades and headed in that direction. She found him there, sitting at the table with a handful of cards, staring at them determinedly.

"Go fish." Came another voice, and Sakura was surprised to see Kero sitting across from him, that same determined look on his face as he stared at his cards.

"What are you two doing?" Sakura asked with a giggle. It was really quite funny seeing the two playing cards together and being civilized!

"Playing cards, what does it look like?" Said Touya, picking up a card.

Kero laughed evilly. "I'm so going to win! That chocolate pudding is mine!"

Sakura sweatdropped. "I get it…you both want the last chocolate pudding that's left in the fridge, so you're playing cards…and whoever wins gets it, right?"

They both nodded, too busy to look up. She shrugged, going to the fridge. They paid no attention to her and continued their card dual.

"Hmm…do you have the king of hearts?" Kero asked, and Touya smirked in response.

"Nope. Go fish."

"Yeah, well…I hope you guys have fun. I'll just take the last pudding and go upstairs." She smirked, and they went on with their game as if they hadn't heard her.

Touya grumbled again as he picked up another card. "This pudding better be worth it…"

"Hey…wait.." Kero snapped out of it. "The pudding…"

Both of them jumped to their feet, running after Sakura, who was laughing as she heard them.

"Sakkkuurraaa!" Kero whined, staring at her as she put a mouthful of pudding into her mouth.

"Mmm…it's really good!" She smirked.

Kero cried, watching as she ate the last pudding. Touya crossed his arms, frowning at her.

"You're an evil little monster, aren't you?"

"Touya! Stop calling me that!" She playfully hit him. Then she smiled, "There's more in the freezer. I hid it away because I knew you two would eat it all."

With that, Kero rushed to find it, leaving Sakura and Touya alone.

"So how'd school go?" He asked.

"I had a math quiz." She stated, sitting down on the couch. "I actually passed!"

"Really?" He looked at her in disbelief.

"Mmhmm," She nodded, "Got an 85."

"Well then, looks like that Chinese gaki is good for something then." Said Touya, going to the kitchen to get his own pudding.

__

I still don't know what he meant in that note, Sakura blinked, licking the last of her pudding off the spoon_. And why did he give the Card back? He got it fair and square. _She shrugged, deciding not to think about it.

"So what're your plans for this afternoon?" Touya called from the kitchen, "I have to go to work around five. You gonna be okay here all by yourself?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going to bed soon anyway," She yawned, "I've been tired all day, and I've got nothing better to do. Besides, Kero's here to keep me company."

Kero burped in response, flying out of the kitchen with his hands on his stomach. "Man, am I full!"

Sakura giggled. _Kero? Full? Impossible!_

"You're sure you'll be okay?" Came Touya's over concerned voice, and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I'm old enough to take care of myself, Touya. I'm quite sure I can stay home for a few hours by myself. Besides, what can happen? I'm going to be asleep!"

"Dad will probably get home before I do," Said Touya.

"In time for supper? I never took anything out…"

"Don't worry, I already made him something. If he asks, it's in the fridge."

Sakura nodded.

"Anyway," He continued, coming out of the kitchen with his own pudding, "I have to get ready. Try not to wreck the house while I'm gone."

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him in response, and soon found herself yawning again, her eyes drooping.

Hmm, maybe I'll head of to bed now, she thought, getting up from where she sat and going upstairs to her room. She found Kero in the drawer where he normally slept, passed out and snoring. She smiled down at him. Some protection he is!

With another yawn, she let herself fall onto her bed, staring up at her white ceiling for a moment before her eyes closed and sleep overcame her.

-----

Scratch scratch. 

Sakura groaned, pulling the covers over her head. There was a noise coming from downstairs, but her sleep filled mind didn't grasp that thought. All she knew was that she was still tired, and didn't wish to be awake. She wanted to continue to sleep.

Scratch. 

"Kero, whatever you're doing, stop it." She mumbled from underneath the covers.

There was a loud snort as Kero stopped his snoring, and he replied in the same sleep filled voice, "What?"

"…noise." She managed to mutter.

"That's not…" He paused, yawning, "me."

Sakura suddenly opened her eyes, all thoughts of sleep leaving her. "Then what is it?"

"Maybe your father is home early?"

Sakura peeked out from under the covers, looking at the clock next to her bed. "It's way too early for him to be home…"

BANG! Something crashed downstairs, and Sakura sat upright, eyes wide. "Kero!"

Kero was up now, listening intently with his big ears.

"There's someone in the house!" Sakura said in a hushed voice.

"Now, now Sakura – that's what you thought last time and it was only a Clow Card."

"You think it's a Clow Card this time?" She asked, looking at his questioningly.

He nodded.

"Do you sense anything?" She asked, watching him.

"No…well, I sense something, but I don't know what it is…" He admitted.

"Should I go…check?" She hesitated, afraid to leave the room. If it was a Clow Card, she could handle it. But if it was something else…

Kero flew out of his drawer, perching on her bed and looking up at her. "Go show that Card who's boss!" He nodded, making a fist with a huge grin on his face. "But I'll go behind you, just in case," He added, grinning up at her sheepishly.

Sakura sighed, getting out of bed and taking her pendant from where it hung from around her neck. In a quiet voice she muttered, "Oh Key of Clow, Power of magic, Power of light...Surrender the wand, The force ignite!...Release!" Feeling the air whip around her and the key grow into the Sealing Wand.

Grasping the wand tightly, she quietly made her way out of her room. Peering down the stairs, she heard the sound of footsteps and her eyes immediately widened. It wasn't a Clow Card! Someone really was in her house!

"Kero! Hide!" She whispered, shoving her wand at him. He took it, quickly flying back to her room and closing the door behind him.

Sakura shaking started down the stairs, stopping half way to look around. She could see no one.

"H-hello?" She called, "Is anyone there?"

A bang came from her kitchen, causing her to jump.

"Hello?" She called again, and received no answer.

Stepping down off the stairs, she made her way in the direction of the kitchen. The closer she got, the more noise could be heard, and the quiet sound of talking.

__

There's more than one of them, she realized, panic rising within her. _What am I supposed to do?_

"Eriol-kun!" Came a raised voice, "Wait until I put the eggs in!"

Sakura blinked. Eriol was in her house? And that had been Tomoyo's voice…

She stepped into the doorway and was greeted by the sight of her two friends, who appeared to be making something. She sighed, relieved that it was them and not some psycho.

"What're you guys doing here?" She asked, startling them both.

"Sakura-chan, you're up!" Eriol smiled at her, his eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

"Well, we came over to visit you," Tomoyo started, "But no one answered, and we figured you were asleep. The door was open, so we came in to wait for you to wake up…and …"

"Tomoyo-chan wanted to do something special for you," Eriol finished for her. "She was going to make you a cake."

Tomoyo blushed. "We didn't wake you, did we?"

"No." Sakura lied. "You just…startled me, I guess. After last night…" She suddenly remembered Eriol was in the room.

"What happened last night?" He asked.

"Well, uh.." Tomoyo covered for her, "She thought there was a burglar, you see…but it turned out to be a open window blowing things over that made all the noise."

"Oooh," Eriol nodded. "Must have been scary, huh?"

Sakura nodded. She didn't like lying to people, but she had to.

"She had Syaoran here, so it wasn't that scary, was it, Sakura?" Tomoyo winked at her friend causing her to blush before going back to making the cake.

Eriol grinned, watching Sakura turn the color of a tomato. "You guys have stopped fighting then?"

"Well, no.." Sakura stammered, "He was tutoring me when it happened…"

"I see." Said Eriol, giving Sakura a knowing look that made her feel uneasy.

Sitting at the kitchen table, she watched as Tomoyo finished mixing the cake and poured the contents of the bowl into a pan. Eriol, who was once again helping her, turned the stove on and opened it, waiting for Tomoyo to put the pans in. She did so, and he closed it.

Wiping his hands in his jeans, Eriol smiled at his girlfriend as she continued to clean up.

From where she sat, Sakura yawned. "So how long have you guys been here?"

"Not long," Tomoyo replied, dipping a finger into the bowl and licking the leftover chocolate cake mix off of it. "We were nearby and Eriol suggested we come visit you." She giggled as Eriol came up behind her, placing his arms around her and placing a kiss upon her cheek. With a chocolate coated finger, Tomoyo reached out and covered Eriol's nose with it.

Eriol wrinkled his nose, staring down at the chocolate as both girls laughed. Then, smiling evilly, he walked past Tomoyo, dipping his finger into the bowl as well before he turned his gaze to Tomoyo, that same smile still sprawled across his face.

"Eriol-kun! You wouldn't!" She protested with a laugh, but her eyes widened as he advanced towards her. She squealed as he caught her, holding her close to him from behind, as he smeared the chocolate on her face. She laughed and struggled the whole time.

Sakura grinned, watching the two lovebirds as they fought. Tomoyo and Eriol were just so cute together…she wished she could have something like that. Someone to hold close, someone special to her. But with capturing Cards and all, romance wasn't something she could deal with.

Ping – the stove clicked, signaling that the cake was ready. Playfully shoving Eriol away, Tomoyo took out the cake, setting it on the counter as she went to get the icing.

Eriol, who was now licking cake mix off his lips, noticed Sakura's dazed look. "You okay, Sakura?"

"Hmm?" She blinked, "Oh…yeah. Just thinking."

"Penny for your thoughts?" He asked, taking a seat next to her.

From across the kitchen, Tomoyo sighed impatiently. "Sakura-chan, where do you keep the icing?"

"In the cupboard above the fridge," Sakura replied, looking away from Eriol in hopes the question was forgotten.

Eriol watched her, letting it slip. Something was bothering her, he could tell. Perhaps it was the affectionate scene he had just had with Tomoyo? His eyes softened as he watched Sakura. Yes, that was most likely it. Here she was, a teenager, and unable to experience love due to the task he had given her.

__

She must be really lonely, he realized_, but I'm trying to fix that._ He smiled, thinking of Syaoran. _My dear descendant, although his feelings are mixed up right now, truly likes her. He just needs to realize this._

Sakura sighed, looking down at her clasped hands.

__

And I shall be the one to make him realize it, Eriol's secretive smile returned, and that mischievous twinkle returned to his eyes. _They just need a big push…and my party will be the best place to do it!_

"All done!" Tomoyo declared, laying a plate of cake in front of both of them.

"It looks delicious!" Sakura exclaimed, her smile returning as she stared down at it.

They talked for the rest of the evening, eating cake and drinking glasses of milk. Sakura's past thoughts soon vanished as she enjoyed her time with her friends, laughing at their jokes and being a normal teenager for once. Finally, the time came for them to leave, and she was sad to see them go.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Tomoyo hugged her goodbye, "And I'll be over to help pick out what you'll be wearing to the party!" She said excitedly.

Sakura was confused for a minute, but soon remembered. _Oh yeah…Eriol's party!_ She smiled to herself_. This is my chance to be normal for a night…a night off!_ She watched as Tomoyo disappeared through the door.

"Good night," Eriol told her, flashing her a smile as he, too, left.

She stood there for a moment, thinking about what was happening tomorrow. She had totally forgotten the party since the whole math quiz thing, but now she was just as excited as she had been when she first found out about it.

"Sakura?" Came a voice from upstairs, and Sakura realized poor Kero was still up there.

"You can come down now!" She called, taking a seat on the couch.

Kero flew down the stairs at top speed, looking around frantically. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" She asked, giving him a confused look.

"The cake!" He took a big breath, "I can smell chocolate!"

"Sorry Kero," She told him, "We kind of…ate it all.."

At that, the Beast's jaw dropped, "You WHAT?"

"Ate it all." She replied sheepishly.

Kero groaned, dropping to the floor. "I'm going to die of hunger.."

Sakura laughed, but it was soon cut off as she realized something.

"We were nearby and Eriol suggested we come visit you." 

She blinked, frowning slightly. How was that possible? She hadn't told Tomoyo where she lived, and she sure hadn't told Eriol…so if they were out, how would Eriol have known that she had lived nearby?

"Sakura?"

She shrugged it off, it had been a great visit anyway, despite the fact Eriol had known where she lived without her telling him.

"There's some icing left if you want it," She told Kero, and giggled as he leapt to life.

"Lead me to it!" He licked his lips hungrily.

Getting up, she went into the kitchen to get what was left of the cake mix and icing, a happy Kero following close behind her.

To Be Continued…


	17. Getting Ready To Party

All That She Is

Chapter Sixteen – Getting Ready To Party

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Well, it's been a long time since I updated…but here it is..finally, the next chapter! And Syaoran's actually in this chapter too! Although there's no Syaoran/Sakura moments…and I'm probably going to get shot, because there is, however, a kiss in this chapter…but it's not from Sakura! *is evil* lol ^_^ As for Meiling…yes, she's evil now…and after the next chapter, many of you may really hate her…but she's not going to stay that way. As I said in the very beginning, Meiling is going to change over time…this is going to be a long fic, and she has a lot of time to change her ways. She won't always be such a bitch. You just have to remember that Meiling hated Sakura in the anime too, and that all turned out okay in the end. Meiling's just a lot older in this fic, and has many years of bitchyness behind her. It'll change in time. Anyway, R&R..and hopefully I'll have another chapter posted before next year! ;)

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

----------

Syaoran Li was annoyed. In fact, he was beyond annoyed as Meiling reached for his hand for what seemed like the millionth time since they had left school to walk home together. It had been a very stressful day for him, especially after what had happened the day before. He'd given up a Clow Card to his enemy, and he was beginning to think he was going crazy.

__

Maybe I am, he sighed, closing his eyes as he let the warm breeze blow through his hair. Beside him Meiling shifted her book bag on her shoulder, and he once again found her cold hand gripping his. His eyes snapped open, and he gave her an annoyed glare. "Meiling!"

"What?" She smiled back, up until he pulled his hand away, that is. Then her smile was replaced with a scowl. "What's wrong with you, Syaoran?"

"Nothing's wrong with me!" He gave her a funny look, "The question is, what's the problem with you!?"

"Nothing." She looked away, and he could tell that something was up with her.

"Then why do you keep grabbing my hand like that?" He questioned.

"Because you're my fiancé!" Meiling growled, turning her burning red eyes back to him, "And you sure aren't acting like it!"

Syaoran stopped as she continued to walk on. "Fiancé?" He repeated what she'd just said, "If you cared so much about us getting married, then you wouldn't have broke up with me this summer for that Yamto guy!"

"Yamato." She corrected him, turning around to face him, "And it was just a fling kind of thing, Syaoran!" She grabbed hold of his sleeve, smiling up with him with pouty lips, "It's all over now, I promise. I'm ready to be with you for the rest of my life!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes, yanking his sleeve from her grip. "Its too late for that Meiling," He told her, "You dumped me. I don't plan on getting back together with you anytime soon." With that, he walked away.

Although at first he had thought he was in love with Meiling, and had agreed to the mirage, Syaoran was having second thoughts. Meiling had, after all, dumped him for another boy and had still planned on marrying him – and he wasn't about to get over that. Syaoran had felt betrayed – it wasn't every day he opened up to someone like Meiling, and she had thrown it all back in his face.

"It's Kinomoto, isn't it?" Came a cold voice from behind him, and he ignored it. However, Meiling refused to be ignored as she ran after him, catching up. "Isn't it? You're in love with her!" She clenched a hand at her side, her teeth grinding together. "Stupid girl…I told her to stay away from you!"

Syaoran blinked, finally looking over at the raven haired girl. "You threatened Kinomoto?"

"Of course! Ever since you bumped into her in the hall, she's been all over you!" She answered with a growl.

Syaoran stared at her, confused. _All over me?_

"Don't give me that look!" Meiling snapped, "You know what I'm talking about!"

Syaoran blushed, and for a moment, he thought she knew about the incident with the Little Card. Okay, so he had thought about kissing the girl…but that didn't mean anything! He certainly didn't like her – she was his enemy after all! _It was the bet_, he told himself_…the stupid bet to make her fall in love with me! That's why I was going to kiss her…not because I like her!_

"Syaoran?" Meiling looked at him with confusion written on her face as she noticed he'd gone quiet. "You have noticed, right?"

"No." He blushed, frustrated with his thoughts and memories of the girl.

"She's basically throwing herself at you, and you haven't even noticed?"

"She's not throwing herself at me," Syaoran argued, "Kinomoto isn't like that! She's too shy and naive to do stuff like that!"

Meiling's mouth dropped. "You're defending that twit…and how would you know what she's like??"

"I just do."

Meiling caught him by the sleeve again, this time more forcibly and he was forced to stop walking. "She's got to you, hasn't she?" She breathed. Syaoran tried to pry her fingers away from him, but she had a very strong grip for a girl. "She's…she's already tried to make a move on you, hasn't she?"

"Oh for gods sakes.." Syaoran rolled his eyes. "No Meiling. Are you forgetting that she's the enemy, and I have to get those Cards from her?"

Meiling brightened at this, and replied, "No." She let go of him, but only to wrap her arms around his neck and tug him closer into a hug. "Oh Syaoran…please, stay away from Kinomoto. I've already warned her to stay away from you, and if she keeps this up I'll…"

Syaoran tensed at the feeling of her arms around him, but did not pull away. "You'll what, Meiling?"

She was the one who pulled away, keeping her arms around him, but so that she could look into his eyes. "I protect what's mine, Syaoran. And you," Her hand brushed his cheek, "Are mine. We'll be married some day," She paused, a small smile making its way across her lips, "And nothing and nobody is going to stop it."

__

Especially Kinomoto…I'll show that girl! She won't have my Syaoran! Meiling leaned in, brushing her lips across Syaoran's. _I'll make sure of it!_

"Meiling!" Syaoran pushed her away, glaring at her in disgust as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. She just smiled in response, and continued walking. Syaoran stared after her.

"And nothing and nobody is going to stop it." 

He frowned, walking slowly after her. _Now I remember the reason for giving Kinomoto the Sword Card_, he sighed, shaking his head. _She's in danger…because Meiling sees her as a threat._ _I know Meiling's planning something…and even though Kinomoto is my enemy…_he paused, thoughts heading in another direction. _At least now that she has the Card, when Meiling attacks…it'll be a fair fight._

"Hurry up, Syaoran!" He looked up to see Meiling glancing at him over her shoulder, "I have to get ready so you can take me to that party tonight!"

Syaoran blinked, momentarily forgetting what she was talking about. "Party?"

"Eriol's party…you know.."

Syaoran raised a brow, keeping his voice cold. "Meiling, you weren't invited."

"Of course I was," She slowed down so he was once again beside her, "You're going, and since I'm your fiancée, I'll be going as your date!" She once again grabbed his hand, pulling him along at a faster pace before he could say anything. "Hurry up! I have a lot to do! I have to get a bath and wash my hair, find nice clothes to wear…" She babbled on.

Syaoran closed his eyes and sighed in frustration.

-----

"How's this?" Sakura asked, holding a fuzzy purple top up to herself so Tomoyo could see.

Tomoyo studied it, a finger to her lip. "I don't know, Sakura-chan…I don't think purple's your color."

Sakura blinked, looking down at the top. "Really? I always thought it was a nice color."

"It is," Tomoyo got up from where she had been sitting on Sakura's bed, "It just doesn't match your eyes." She then smiled, "You want something that will really bring out those emerald orbs of yours, and knock the socks off the guys who're going to the party!"

Sakura blushed, throwing the top back into her closet, barely missing Kero who was hovering not too far away.

"Hey! Watch it!" He grumbled, mad at the fact he was stuck doing something so girly as to help Sakura pick out clothes. He was also mad at the fact she was going to a party that night, and he was going to be left home. And everyone knew that parties meant free food…food he would be missing out on! With a groan, he dropped to the floor.

"Sorry Kero-chan," Sakura gave him a small apologetic smile.

He didn't bother to answer her, just 'hmph'd' and crossed his arms.

Sakura looked at Tomoyo, mouthing 'he'll get over it'. The other girl nodded with a grin.

Searching through her closet, Sakura emerged with a pink top, and holding it up in front of her, looked for Tomoyo's approval. Tomoyo looked at it, before she scrunched up her nose and shook her head.

Sakura sighed, before throwing it back from where it had come from and slumping down on her bed. "I give up, Tomoyo-chan…I'm no good at this."

They'd been there for hours now, ever since school had let out and Sakura had skated home with her brother and Yukito. She'd asked Touya then if it was alright if Tomoyo came over, and he'd said yes. When Tomoyo had phoned, she'd told her to good news, and it wasn't long before her friend was at her house, dressed to party.

Sakura turned her head, looking at Tomoyo's deep blue shirt and black pants. They looked really good on her, complimenting her silvery gray hair. They also brought out her eyes, especially with the mascara and eyeliner Tomoyo was using. She looked beautiful, and Sakura secretly wished she could look that good.

"Don't give up, Sakura," Her friend smiled, going over to the closet to pick through her clothes, "I'm sure you have something here you can wear.."

"I already looked."

"Well," Tomoyo turned to her, a small secretive smile on her lips, "Do you have a pair of black pants?"

Sakura raised herself so that she was lying sideways, propped up on one elbow. "Yeah, but I still need a shirt to go with it."

Tomoyo made her way over to the back pack she'd brought ("just in case" she'd said) and began to pick through it. Sakura watched her, rolling over onto her stomach as she listened to the rustle of movement.

"Tomoyo?"

The other girl picked up something, unfolding it before turning to Sakura and holding it out to her. "I brought something that might fit you."

Sakura took the article from the girl, giving it a glance before grabbing a pair of pants and heading out of the room and down the hall to try the clothes. When she returned, she was wearing the black pants and an amazing silky emerald shirt. It was long sleeved and flared out a bit around the wrists, and dipped low in the front but not too low for discomfort. Sakura looked in her mirror, and grinned widely. It looked amazing – she loved it!

"You like it?" Asked Tomoyo, and Sakura could see the girl grinning from behind her through the mirror.

"Do I like it?" Sakura repeated, before turning to her friend, "I love it! It's perfect!" She gave Tomoyo a hug, "Thanks!"

Tomoyo giggled, pulling away and looking at Sakura's outfit again. "I knew that I'd get you to wear something I made sooner or later!"

Sakura's mouth dropped. "You mean you made this?" She twirled in front of the mirror to get a good look at herself, feeling the flared silk of the sleeves move with her. "It's gorgeous!"

"Hmm," Tomoyo nodded in approval, "Not too dressy, but not too plain either. It's perfect for this party!" _And Syaoran won't be able to look at any another girl! _She thought with a smirk.

Sakura sat back down on her bed, careful not to wrinkle her pants or shirt. Picking up the belt containing the Cards she brought everywhere, she frowned. "Should I take these?" She wondered, "Just in case…"

Tomoyo shrugged. "It's up to you…but I don't think anything bad will happen."

Sakura silently opened it, taking out a familiar looking Card. It was the Card Syaoran had given her the other day, without an explanation..just a note that she wasn't quite sure how to take.

__

He said I needed this Card more than he does… She thought, staring at it silently_. But what did he mean 'watch your back'? I still don't know if he was trying to warn me…or if it was a threat. _She sighed, putting the Card in her pocket_. Either way, I could be in danger…and it wouldn't hurt to have at least one Card._

"I'm ready to go." She told Tomoyo, "Touya's downstairs with his friends..he promised to give us a ride."

They made their way downstairs, only to hear the sound of choking and Yukito's laughter. Walking into the kitchen, she found a girl hugging the life out of her brother, while Touya's silver haired friend watched in amusement.

"T-Touya?" She asked, bewildered. Did her brother have a girlfriend she didn't know about? She blushed, suddenly feeling like she'd just walked into something she shouldn't have.

"Sakura?" Came Touya's voice, and the girl finally let go of him. She turned to Sakura with a wild smile, and soon Sakura found her cheeks getting pinched.

"Oh Touya! She's so cute! You should have told me you had an adorable little sister!" She cried, assaulting Sakura's face.

"Ehh..sorry." Touya rubbed the back of his head. "Nakuru, this is Sakura, my sister…Sakura, this is Nakuru. She's new at my school."

"Nice to meet you." Sakura finally managed to say once the girl let go of her, and she finally got a glimpse of her features.

The older girl, Nakuru, was a lot taller than Sakura, and obviously older. She was about Touya's height and age, and has long brown hair. Her bangs were cut short in the front, but where longer at the side of her face, and she had a single braid that came over her shoulder and lay down her front. She was wearing the usual college school clothing, just like Touya and Yukito wore every day.

"You too." She girl smiled. _Ah, finally…I get to greet the great Clow Mistress, _she thought, keeping the same fake smile on her lips. She'd been sent to check on Sakura and to make sure she was going to the party. Also, she needed to be out of the house when the guests arrived, so nobody would ask questions. Spinel Sun was lucky enough to have such a small form he could hide away easily – she did not.

Turning to the older boys, she smiled, eyeing Yukito out of the corner of her eye. _I also get to keep an eye on him in the meantime, and keep him away from Touya._

"Can you give us a ride now?" Sakura asked, looking past the girl. There was something odd about her – she didn't know what it was, it was just a feeling she got.

"Oh, yeah..sure." Touya grabbed the car keys from the table, glad that his father had left the car. He looked at Nakuru and Yukito over his shoulder as he made his way across the kitchen, following the two younger girls as they went to put their shoes on. "You guys coming? If we're lucky, we can catch a movie."

Nakuru's gaze left Yukito, and she glanced at the Mistress's brother. "Oh, yeah..sure!"

With one final look at the silver haired boy, she walked off after Touya. Yukito's eyes narrowed as he watched her, and his usually happy face turned to stone.

Whoever that girl is, she knows. 

-----

Meiling smiled, studying herself in the mirror. After a few hours of getting ready, she was finally set to go. Dressed in black leather pants (not the tight kind – she did have to have room to move, after all, if she was going to carry out her plan), and a matching black top, Meiling was dressed to kill. Her hair was set up on top of her head in a bun to keep it out of her way, although a few long strands had managed to escape, and all make up was in place.

A noise behind her made her spin around, and she stared at her cousin/fiancé, who was also dressed to party.

Not really wanting her to go to this party, Syaoran crossed his arms and refused to look at her. "Are you ready to go?"

"Almost." She smiled in reply, her eyes wandering over him. He looked good, really good…and Meiling was going to make sure that everyone knew just whom he belonged to tonight. "Go tell Wei I'll be down in a minute…I have to touch up my make up."

He nodded, and soon she was left alone in her room again.

With a smirk, she looked back in the mirror, and lifted the chain that was around her neck. The chain was long enough that the pendant fell below the line of her top, hiding it from view..but now it was visible in the dim light of her room. It was black with red swirls, a gift from the Li family for her last birthday. They'd sent a note to use it carefully, and to ask Syaoran how to use it. Instead, she'd kept it to herself and had secretly practiced. Now all that hard work was about to pay off.

__

I'm going to show Kinomoto her place! She smirked evilly at the pendant, before letting it fall back into place. Grabbing her jacket from where it lay on her bed, Meiling turned off all the lights before leaving her room to join Syaoran in the limo waiting downstairs. _She's going to wish she'd never moved here!_

To Be Continued…


	18. Dance Gone Wrong

All That She Is

Chapter Seventeen – Dance Gone Wrong

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Heheh..you thought I was evil for the last chapter, but wait until you read this one! And the one after this…whew, it's going to be fun! Haha..how many other author's have had Meiling and Sakura face off in a…whoops, can't ruin it for the readers! Anyway, I told you I'd get another chapter out before Christmas! I'm off for the holidays now, so I have more time to write. 'Dreams Come True' is not a real band, although it was the song I was listening to while writing this. If anyone's interested, it's by SES :P R&R, and enjoy the chapter!

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

----------

The trip to Eriol's house was a quiet one, with Touya in the drivers seat, Nakuru in the passenger seat, and Yukito sitting behind her in the back seat with Sakura and Tomoyo. Sakura thought nothing of it, staring down at her lap as she played with her hands nervously. This was her first party in a new city, after all, and she barely even knew anyone besides Tomoyo and a few classmates she'd met.

As if reading her mind, Tomoyo whispered, "Nervous?"

Sakura nodded her head, her eyes finding Tomoyo's in the darkness. A street light passed overhead, and Sakura could see her friend smiling at her.

"Don't worry about it." Tomoyo said, and looked out the car window at the night sky.

Sakura glanced back down at her hands, and planted them at either side of her. She heard a chuckle beside her, and she looked up to see Yukito grinning at her, his silver hair glinting golden as they passed under another street light.

"This your first party, Sakura?" He asked in amusement, and Sakura blushed, suddenly unable to meet his gaze.

"Yes." She answered quietly, although it came out more like a squeak. She scolded herself for being so nervous over nothing, and for acting like such a child in front of Yukito. For some reason, she felt the need to act strong and mature in front of the older boy, as if she felt the need to impress him.

Touya glanced at Sakura from the rear view mirror. "Just stay away from anything that tastes funny, and keep a distance from the boys. Especially that gaki that keeps following you around."

"What's this?" Nakuru half turned around in her seat to smile at the blushing younger girl, "Sakura's already got a boyfriend?"

"B-boyfriend?" Sakura's eyes widened, and then she shook her head frantically, "No, no! It isn't anything like that!"

"Sounds like it to me!" The girl winked, turning back in her seat. She then reached across the distance to lay a hand on Touya's leg as he drove. "I have a guy like that too." She beamed over the choking noise Touya made.

Sakura forced a smile, and suddenly looked to Yukito. She couldn't see much in the dark, but she could tell he wasn't smiling anymore, and his eyes were now on the brown haired girl sitting in the front seat. Sakura silently wondered what was going through his mind. He seemed to have something against Nakuru for some reason…She shrugged it off, maybe she was looking into it wrong? Maybe Yukito liked Nakuru? Another light passed over, and Sakura saw his scowl as he watched the girl. She blinked as the darkness returned. _Okay, maybe not…_

Tomoyo suddenly sat forward, pointing through the front window to give directions. "Eriol's house is on that street right there. The very last house on the corner," She told Sakura's brother, who turned into the street. As the car slowed, Sakura moved her head so she could stare up at the house that Eriol supposedly lived in.

"Oh my.." She gasped, "It's HUGE!"

From beside her Tomoyo laughed, reaching for the door handle and opening the door. Getting out, she held the door for Sakura to crawl out after her. "Eriol's rich, didn't you know?" She smiled.

"I knew he had a lot of money," Sakura nodded, "But I never thought he'd live in a house as big as this! And all by himself!"

Eriol had told her a while ago that he lived alone – his parents died in a car accident. She thought that was pretty sad, and felt bad for him – but now, standing in front of the huge mansion, she realized just how alone he was.

"His Aunt checks on him every now and then." Tomoyo shut the door, and they made their way around to the other side of the car. They were walking up the front walk when they heard a shout behind them, and they turned to see the passenger window down, and a concerned Touya looking out from where he sat.

"Have fun Sakura! Remember what I said –"

Ignoring what Touya was saying, Nakuru waved from the passenger seat, a small smile upon her face. "Be careful!" She rolled up the window before Touya could say anything else, and soon the car was driving away.

__

Be careful? What could possibly happen at a party? Sakura shook her head with a smile. "Strange girl."

She turned to catch up to Tomoyo.

-----

The music was loud, coming from a hired band in the front room. Sakura walked through the house, eyes wide in amazement. She wondered how Eriol was able to afford all of this, her eyes catching the band, and wandering across the large room to the table of refreshments and other things. She was about to go get something to drink when a voice stopped her.

"Sakura!" Rika called across the crowd, waving a hand as she stood on tiptoe to see over people.

"Rika!" Sakura smiled and waved back, watching as the girl pushed the dancing people out of her way as she made her way towards Sakura.

She huffed when she finally made it, laying a hand on Sakura's arm to steady herself. "Great party, huh?"

Sakura hadn't been there very long before Eriol had showed up, and had insisted on showing Sakura around since it was her first time at his house. He showed her around downstairs so she wouldn't get lost, and once they returned to the main room where most of the party was being held, he had excused himself and Tomoyo, taking the other girl out onto the dance floor. Sakura hadn't seen them since.

"Yeah." Sakura nodded, although she felt really out of place in the room full of people. She didn't know any of them, although she recognized most of them from school.

"Oh my god! Sakura! I love that shirt!" Naoko exclaimed, suddenly appearing out of the crowd holding a glass of punch. "You look gorgeous in it!"

"Thanks." Sakura blushed lightly, "Tomoyo made it."

At this, the girls gasped. "Really? Wow..I knew Tomoyo was into making new designs and stuff…but..wow!"

"Speaking of Tomoyo," Rika looked around, "Where is she?"

"Off with Eriol, I bet." Naoko smirked.

"Hey, there they are!" Rika finally spotted them, and pointed them out from across the room. They were talking to two people, near the front entrance. "They're talking to Syaoran and Meiling.." She suddenly scrunched her nose, "Meiling's got a pretty tight grip on Syaoran," She turned back to the girls, "Are they back together?" She wondered.

For some reason, Sakura felt like her heart just dropped to the floor. And her eyes instantly searched out Tomoyo and the others, coming to a rest on Syaoran. Sure enough, Meiling's arms were wrapped tightly around Syaoran's arm. As if sensing she was being watched, Meiling suddenly looked her way, and caught eyes with Sakura, emerald against ruby. Meiling's eyes narrowed, and she smirked, holding Syaoran closer and turning her attention back to what Eriol was saying.

Naoko, noticing Sakura's silence, said, "Look at her over there…desperately hanging onto him." She shook her head.

"Pitiful, really," Rika nodded, grabbing the glass out of Naoko's hand and swallowing its contents.

"Hey!" Naoko yelled, bringing her hands up to her hips as she glared at her friend.

Rika nodded, laying the empty cup down on a nearby windowsill. "Hey, I was thirsty!"

Naoko rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get another drink, anyone wanna come?"

"Sure!" Rika grinned at the evil look she was receiving from her friend. "You coming Sakura?"

Sakura shook her head, giving them a small smile. "No, I think I'll stay here."

"Okay," Her friends waved, "See you around!"

And once again, Sakura was left alone.

-----

Meiling half listened to what the couple in front of her was saying, her eyes roaming the crowd of dancing teenagers. She and Syaoran had arrived late, of course, thanks to her. But that was okay, since it was all part of her plan.

"…so the I saw a poster on a billboard featuring this band, 'Dreams Come True', and Tomoyo talked me into hiring them." Eriol was saying, looking at the band as they played, "They're quite good, I must admit."

"The people seem to like them anyway." Tomoyo added with a shrug.

Syaoran nodded, trying to get his arm away from Meiling, who had a hold of him so tight he couldn't feel his fingers anymore. He finally sighed, his head drooping as he gave up. It was no use.

But as if by some miracle, her arm finally slipped from his, and she stared up at him with her fiery eyes. "I'm going to get a drink, do you want anything Syaoran?"

"No thanks."

With that, she headed off into the crowd, and once she was out of sight he said, "Thank god! Now hide me before she comes back!"

Both his friends laughed, and he couldn't help but smile a bit as well.

"Meiling's back on the prowl, is she?" Eriol asked.

"More than ever. I can't do anything without her following me…I mean, she wasn't even invited tonight, her excuse was that if I was invited, then so was she!" Syaoran shook his head, "Sorry about that, by the way."

Eriol patted Syaoran on the back. "Don't worry, we know all about your girl problems."

Syaoran's eyes snapped up, and he met Eriol's. A memory from not too long ago flashed through his head, of him and Sakura lying on top of her bed, about to kiss. Syaoran flushed. _How did he know…oh wait, he's talking about Meiling…yeah, that's it._

He barely noticed when the music in the background started to change, and a slow song was being played. People started moving off the floor to allow more room for couples to dance, creating enough empty space to see across the room.

Tomoyo's eyes widened as her eyes fell on someone, and she suddenly remembered something. "Oh my god! I forgot about Sakura – we just kind of left her by herself!" Tomoyo shook her head. "I'm such a bad friend!"

Syaoran followed Tomoyo's gaze, and his eyes landed on Sakura for the first time that evening. Dressed in the emerald shirt and black pants, he had to do a double take. _Kinomoto..?_ His eyes widened slightly. _She looks so…_ He couldn't bring himself to say 'beautiful'. She was his enemy after all, and thoughts like those were wrong!

Out of the corner of his eye, Eriol saw Syaoran's shocked expression, and he elbowed Tomoyo lightly. Looking up at Syaoran, she stifled a giggle. _Poor boy's entranced…I was right! _She grinned widely, and she received a more urgent elbow this time. She looked across the room, and her smile faded. "Uh oh."

Syaoran finally looked away, looking over at Tomoyo. "What?"

Tomoyo pointed just to the right of Sakura. "Meiling's on her way towards Sakura…"

Bits of conversation from earlier that day came back to him, things that Meiling had said about her protecting what was hers, and about Sakura staying away. Syaoran blinked – Meiling really wouldn't start something at a friend's party, would she? But seeing the determined expression on her face, he decided that's exactly what she planned on doing.

"Syaoran!" He felt someone push him from behind, and he looked over his shoulder to see Tomoyo pushing him forward, "Do something to stop her!"

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked.

"I don't know…think of something on your way over there!" She pleaded, and he rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Fine." He grumbled, making his way across the room, pushing past dancing couples and trying to get to Sakura before Meiling did.

-----

Sakura leaned against the back wall, watching the couples dance and listening to the slow music. From where she stood she could see Rika dancing with a guy from her math class, and she smiled. At least her friends were having a good time…

"Come on."

Startled, Sakura looked up to see Syaoran standing in front of her, his hand held out to her. Confused, she asked, "What?"

"I said, come on." He answered, sounding kind of impatient as his eyes flickered somewhere to her right every now and then.

"Why.." She was suddenly caught off guard when he grabbed her by the hand, leading her out onto the dance floor. Once they were out there, he turned to her.

"Li, what are you doing?" She asked, puzzled.

Putting his arms around her waist loosely enough that she could pull away if she wanted to, he rolled his eyes. "What does it look like?"

Sakura blushed furiously. "You..want to dance with me?"

"Good guess, Kinomoto."

Sakura frowned at his rudeness, putting her arms around his neck even though he was being an ass. They began to slow dance to the music.

From where they danced, Syaoran could see Meiling's blazing eyes as she watched them. He'd managed to save Sakura from her wrath for now, but Meiling wasn't the one to back down. She'd be back, and most likely she'd come back even more angry and determined than before. A wave of protectiveness went through him, and he unconsciously pulled Sakura closer. He breathed in deeply, taking in her scent and closing his eyes in contentment. As much as he hated to admit it, this…it just felt so right! They fit together perfectly. He wrapped his arms around her more tightly, enjoying the moment…until he opened his eyes and met Meiling's glare once again.

Blushing a deep red, Sakura allowed the sudden closeness, and laid her head on Syaoran's shoulder. He didn't seem to mind, although it seemed his mind was elsewhere. She glanced up, looking in the direction he was staring, and met Meiling's angry eyes right before the black haired girl turned and stomped off. 

__

Meiling… She lifted her head from Syaoran's shoulder. _That's right, Meiling came with Syaoran! But why…why is Li dancing with me then? Why isn't he with his fiancée?_ She suddenly pushed Syaoran away, her eyes downcast. She could feel his questioning gaze on her. It suddenly clicked – Syaoran and Meiling were engaged, but Meiling was seeing other people.

"I get it, you're only dancing with me to make Meiling jealous, because you want her back." She said softly.

Syaoran furrowed his brows. "What are you talk-"

Sakura looked up, her eyes showing the hurt she was feeling. "You don't have to explain. I understand. You used me to make her jealous…" The hurt suddenly disappeared, and it was replaced by anger, "In fact, you being anywhere near me…that's the only reason, isn't it? To make Meiling jealous! I know you hate me –"

"I don't hate you, Kinomoto." Syaoran said quietly, but she wouldn't hear any of it.

"- but that gives you no right to use me like this!" She continued, using a finger to poke him in the chest.

"Sakura –"

The girl whirled around in a huff, leaving Syaoran staring after as she exited the room. The slow music ended and the couples around him separated as the rock music continued, and soon the dance floor was once again full of moving dancing bodies. 

Syaoran stood in shock, wondering what the hell just happened.

To Be Continued…


	19. Sakura Goes Missing

All That She Is

Chapter Eighteen – Sakura Goes Missing

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Err…sorry about the delay. I was supposed to get this written last weekend, and I ended up putting it off until now. I actually had a lot more planned for this chapter too, but by the time I got to the part that's now the ending…I decided to split it up into another chapter. Sorry, but it kind of ends in a cliffhanger now ^_~ *is evil* And yes, Sakura is having a conversation with herself, lol. Anyway, I hope to get the next chapter out soon…it's gonna be a good one! Meiling and Sakura face off! Who's gonna win? ;) Wait and see!

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

----------

Tomoyo watched as Sakura hastily made her way off the dance floor, hurt shining in her eyes. Raising a brow, she glanced as Eriol, who shrugged in response before nodding his head towards her. Getting the message, Tomoyo left his arms to head after Sakura. 

She had to run to catch up, pushing couples out of her way as she called out the other girl's name. Either Sakura didn't hear her, or she was ignoring her, because Sakura didn't stop. Soon enough, Sakura was out of sight, and Tomoyo couldn't see her anywhere.

__

Damn it! Where'd that girl go? She wondered, eyes wandering the crowded room. _She couldn't have gotten far!_

Tomoyo glanced around the moving people, but could find no sign of her. With a frown, she gave up searching and decided to go talk to Syaoran instead. He had been the last one to talk to her, so if something were wrong he'd know what it was. She found him near the refreshment table, currently being questioned by Eriol.

"What happened? Why'd Sakura storm off like that?" Tomoyo asked, voice raised over the loud music.

"I have no idea!" Syaoran answered, rolling his eyes. Eriol had already asked him, and the truth was he really didn't know what had happened. One minute they had been dancing to the slow music in each other's arms, and then Sakura suddenly started to accuse him of using her to make Meiling jealous! And then, before he could even open his mouth to protest, she'd run off!

"From what I gather, there was a misunderstanding," Eriol informed Tomoyo as he leaned back against the table, arms crossed in front of him.

"A misunderstanding?" Tomoyo frowned.

Syaoran sighed – the girl obviously wasn't going to go away until he explained. "She thought I was only dancing with her to make Meiling jealous."

"Were you?"

"No!" Syaoran insisted, brows furrowed as he looked down at the girl.

"Tell me Syaoran, why were you dancing with her in the first place, if it wasn't to make Meiling jealous?" Asked the boy beside him, "We sent you over to distract her and stop Meiling from getting to her. We didn't say you had to dance with her," Eriol finished with a smile.

Syaoran blushed faintly, looking away from his friends in hopes that the dim light would hide his flushed face. "I don't know. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing…didn't know how to get Sakura away before Meiling got to her, so I just kind of offered to dance."

"I see," Eriol nodded slightly, his famous knowing smile on his face.

"Well, she's disappeared." Tomoyo sighed, leaning against the table as well. "I looked everywhere and couldn't see her."

"Maybe she just needs some time to cool down." Eriol offered.

"Time to cool down?" Tomoyo suddenly stood up straight on both feet and turned to her boyfriend, "Eriol, she's in a house full of people she doesn't know! We just can't let her go off on her own..anything could happen to her!"

"Like what?" Asked Syaoran, giving her a doubtful look.

"Meiling might find her, wherever she is!"

"Don't worry, she's safe." He lifted a hand to point across the room where Meiling was busily flirting with one of the band members, every now and then casting a glance across the room at them. "Meiling's busy at the moment."

"What's she doing?" Eriol asked, eyes narrowing as he squinted to see better. Sometimes contact lenses weren't really that great, and he was just getting used to them. Meiling seemed to know she was being watched, as she glanced over at them with a bitter smirk, before talking animatedly with the band member. "She's up to something."

"All the more reason to find Sakura!" Tomoyo insisted, this time grabbing Syaoran by the shoulders and starting to push him into the crowd.

"Hey!" He protested, "What're you doing? Stop it!"

"You're going to find her!" Tomoyo gave him another push, a hand planted firmly on the back of each shoulder so that he couldn't steer away.

"No I'm not!" He sent a glare over his shoulder at her, "If you want to find her so bad, then _you_ go look for her!"

"You're the reason she ran off, so _you're_ going!"

"I'm staying here!" He said, digging his heals into the floor.

The hands on his back disappeared, and at once he felt himself tugged around so he was facing the furious girl. Staring into her angry eyes, he felt a shiver pass through him – Tomoyo wasn't a girl to get mad, and if he didn't do as she said, he would most likely feel her wrath.

Her right arm raised, she poked her index finger at him angrily as she spoke, "Listen here Syaoran, and listen good! Sakura is a good friend of mine – my best friend, really..I've never really had a close girl friend before. It's always been just you, Eriol and Meiling. We've known each other since kindergarten…and you know that I'd do anything for a friend!"

"And you…you have this stupid bet on the go, and I would have told her by now but I know that would break apart the gang!" She hesitated, "I know you're going to break her heart in the end, but I won't let her be hurt in any physical way! …so _please_, go find her…for me? I just want to know that she's alright, and that Meiling hasn't dragged her away, kicked the crap out of her and left her to die in some ditch, okay?"

Syaoran blinked, looking down at the girl who was now staring up at him with sad eyes brimming with tears. He looked away, unable to watch as the girl sobbed. He hated it when girls cried – it made his heart melt and he went soft.

"Fine," He told her crossly, arms crossed as he forced himself to send a glare in her direction, "I'll go find her."

"Thank you Syaoran."

-----

Meiling glanced over at Syaoran and his friends, briefly catching Eriol's gaze before she turned back to the boy in front of her. With a playful grin she leaned in, her hands coming up to rest on his chest and her fingers digging into his clothes, dragging him closer to her. With a seductive voice she whispered something in his ear, her warm breath sending shivers down his spine.

"I-I'm sorry," He stammered, trying to move away from her, "But I don't think.."

"Oh come on!" Meiling shoved him away, angry that he hadn't given into her little game.

"I'm just a band m-member..you should ask our singer."

"Ask me what?" Came a voice from behind them, and they both turned to see an older girl dressed in head to toe in black, her dark blue hair casting shadows across her face in the dim light of the room.

"Vitani!" The male band member sighed in relief, "This girl here.."

"I wanted to ask if you could sing a slow song, and dedicate it to Eriol," Meiling interrupted the boy. "He did throw this party, and it must have cost a lot of money and everything. What better way to repay him for his kindness than to dedicate a slow song to him and his girlfriend?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, and her crossed arms fell to her sides. "I think that's a good idea."

Meiling spun around the glare at the cowering boy behind her, before giving the woman a grateful look. "Thank you. I think he'll be very surprised." With a wave of her hand, Meiling started off into the crowd, "Make it a good one too!"

"B-Boss?" The man asked, "Are you really going to do what she asked?"

Cold blue eyes turned on him, "Why shouldn't I? Eriol was nice enough to give us a place to play, and we're getting paid as well. I'd like to do something nice for him."

"But – she tried to hit on me!"

Vitani rolled her blue eyes, throwing silky blue hair over her shoulder as she laughed. "Juno, you really have to get over this fear of girls."

"H-How can I d-do that when my b-boss is a – a slave driver!"

The girl grinned, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him to the stage. It was time for another slow song.

-----

The moon shone brightly in the sky, making the dark trees and bushes look almost magical. In the middle of the beauty stood a large fountain, the water spraying out sparkling in the moonlight, before falling into the pool of water below it. Looking down into the large bowl of fountain water, Sakura could see the stars' reflection above.

__

What am I doing? She silently wondered, wrapping her arms around her self in the chilly night air. _Why did I run off like that?_

Something rustled in a nearby bush, and Sakura's heart nearly stopped. Could it be that the place was haunted, and a ghost was hiding in the bushes? Sakura blinked and shook her head, trying to rid herself of such thoughts. She'd been scared of ghosts since she was little – it was about time she grew out of such childish fears.

Her eyes adjusting to the lack of light, Sakura watched as a small bird hopped out of the trees, staring at her curiously before flittering away. Sakura let out the breath she had been hoping.

__

See? It wasn't a ghost! She heard a voice in her head scold her, _it was only a bird! You have to stop being so naïve and gullible, Sakura!_

Naïve and gullible? Sakura covered her face with her hands, letting them slide down her face slowly as she took a seat on a nearby stone-like bench_. You're so stupid, Sakura! You let people use you and hurt you!_

Hurt me? She tried to reason with the voice in her head, _I don't…understand…why it hurts. Syaoran's my friend…sort of…but why does it hurt? I guess I kind of like him…when he's not being nasty to me and threatening me for the Cards…but…_

You thought there was something going on between the two of you, don't you? The nasty little voice in her head asked, But in reality he was only using you to get back at his old girlfriend! The voice whispered nastily. 

Sakura clenched her eyes closed, trying to block out that voice. _Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! You're wrong!_

Am I? It questioned, _Are you trying to deny that you have feelings for Syaoran?_

I..I don't know! She cried truthfully, _I…maybe…I'm so confused right now…_

It's time to grow up, Sakura…stop being so childish. How could there possibly be anything between the two of you? He hates you, and you return those feelings, don't you? __

I…I thought I did, she confessed, _But the other night…when I thought he was going to kiss me…_She held a hand up to her chest, looking painfully down at the ground, _I felt my heart thudding so hard in my chest…and I realized.._

That it was possible that you had feelings for him? That you loved him? What? The voice questioned her.

I thought…it was possible. It's not love, I haven't known him that long. But..I feel this connection to him..and tonight..it was so magical, so amazing when he held me in his arms and we danced..I felt like I was floating..I feel so warm and safe in his arms! __

The arms of the enemy.

My..enemy..

He used you to make Meiling jealous. That's all he wanted..he doesn't want you. He doesn't feel anything for you! 

Sakura's eyes narrowed briefly, her hands moving over her arms to keep her warm and her breath coming out in small clouds, visible in the moonlight. Fall sure was rolling in quickly. She was sure that in a few more weeks, they'd be seeing the first few snowflakes. Where had summer gone?

__

You're right. I was a fool to believe that he might actually like me. She let her hands slip to the cool stone beneath her, leaning back as she stared up at the cold starry sky, _He's my rival – my enemy, and he'll never be anything more. He doesn't even treat me like a friend…how could I possibly think..?_

"Kinomoto." A voice interrupted her thoughts, and Sakura looked up to see a dark figure standing near the fountain.

-----

"I've checked the bathrooms, all the rooms upstairs and downstairs…I can't find her anywhere." Syaoran told his two friends, leaning against a wall so that he could catch his breath. He'd had to run all over the house, hoping to find Sakura, but he hadn't found a trace of her.

"Check the library?"

"Yes," Syaoran sighed in frustration.

"The kitchens? The dining room? The basement?" Asked Tomoyo.

"I checked everywhere!" Syaoran snapped.

"Did you check the back –" Whatever Eriol was going to say, was suddenly cut off when the music stopped and a the lead girl singer stepped up to the microphone, pulling it close to her lips as she crowd turned to her.

"What's going on?" Tomoyo asked from beside Eriol, staring up at him with questioning eyes. "Why'd the music just stop like that?"

The girl at the microphone coughed lightly, catching more of the dancing people's attention. Finally, once everyone was watching her, she smiled, blinking at the lights that were shining down at her. "Hello everyone!" She finally spoke, her voice loud through the speakers, "I hope that you're enjoying the music –" There was a loud cheer, and she grinned, "I just wanted to thank you all, especially the man of the house, Eriol, who hired us to play tonight. Everyone give him a round of applause!"

Clapping started throughout the room, everyone glancing back at the dark haired teenager and giving him a thumbs up. He glanced around, suddenly having a bad feeling about all of this.

"I'd like to dedicate the next song to him and his beautiful girlfriend," The girl announced on stage, and suddenly hoots and cat calls started, "Come on Eriol and Tomoyo, lets see you two!"

The crowd started to push them forward into the middle of the floor, and suddenly they were both surrounded by people. The girl had picked up her guitar by now, and was leaning into the microphone as she began to play a slow song, her angelic voice creating a romantic atmosphere.

Tomoyo glanced at Eriol, still confused as to what was happening. He shrugged, deciding to just go with it, before holding out his hand. She took it, and he swung her into his arms. Within minutes they were slow dancing in the middle of the room, the crowd around them turning to their loves and joining in not too long after.

From where he stood, Syaoran watched, an eyebrow raised. Something wasn't right, he could feel it! He had to find Sakura as soon as possible. Turning around, he was about to check outdoors for her, when he realized a girl was standing behind him – quite close, actually. Her hands were on either side of her, playing with the fabric of her dress, and she looked quite embarrassed.

"Rika," He acknowledged her after his initial shock. Why was she standing there…what did she want?

"Uhm, hi Syaoran." She blushed, refusing to look him in the eye, "I was just wondering…would you dance with me? Just this once?"

Syaoran opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't come up with a good excuse. "I'm sorry, Rika I have to.."

"I know you don't like me or anything," She said hastily, "Its just that I've never danced with anyone, and Meiling was making fun of me earlier…" She hesitated, raising her eyes to meet his briefly, "I promise it will only be this once! Just please – dance with me?"

Syaoran sighed, looking into her hopeful eyes. He couldn't say no, not when one of Tomoyo's friends needed help. Besides, it was only a stupid slow dance – three minutes of his time, and then it would all be over. What could it hurt? "Sure."

"Really?" She smiled, taking hold of his arm and dragging him out onto the dance floor, "Thanks a lot Syaoran!"

Try as he might, Syaoran still couldn't shake off the bad feeling he had.

To Be Continued…


	20. Meiling vs Sakura

All That She Is

Chapter Nineteen – Meiling vs. Sakura

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Whoa, I thought I'd never get this done. Sorry for the delay…I was on vacation for two weeks, and I just got home Tuesday night. I've got my grad coming up next week…very exciting :D Anyway, this is a pretty intense chapter. If you didn't think Meiling was a bitch before, you certainly will after this chapter. But don't fret, because this was her downfall…things are going to get better for her after this, okay? ^_~ I promised Meiling would turn good at some point…and I'm working towards that now. But yeah…crazy sword wielding girls are fun! I love Meiling! ^_^

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

----------

"Kinomoto."

Sakura looked up, squinting slightly in the darkness of the night as she tried to make out who was standing not too far off from her. Overhead a cloud had passed over the sky, making it hard to see much of anything. The most she could make out was a dark outline of a person, and from the tone of voice she knew it was a female.

"Tomoyo?" Sakura asked hopefully, sitting up on the stone bench and placing her hands on the cool hard rock on either side of her, "Is that you?"

"No such luck," The voice answered, and at that moment the cloud passed overhead, allowing the moonlight to shine upon the earth again and revealing the long dark hair and ruby eyes of a girl that Sakura wished she'd never have to see again.

"Meiling." Sakura acknowledged, now sitting more rigid as she stared uncomfortably at the other girl, who wore a twisted smirk upon her face. Sakura didn't like that look; Meiling was up to something.

"Ah, so you remember my name." Meiling step forward, and Sakura got to her feet. There was a pause as Meiling tilted her head, her red eyes glinting in the moonlight almost evilly, "But yet you forget that Syaoran is mine, _my_ fiancé."

"I never forgot that." Sakura told her, backing up a step as Meiling closed in on her.

"Oh?" Meiling raised one brow, "It really doesn't look that way to me."

"Well maybe you should look harder, because Li and I – we're not even _friends_ half the time. He cares nothing for me," Sakura almost choked saying the last part, and she felt the need to cry. "He just wants the Clow Cards!"

"I warned you to stay away from him!" Said Meiling, ignoring Sakura as her voice rose, "And yet I see you everywhere with him! _Tutoring_ after school, catching _Cards_ together, _dancing like a couple_!" Her eyes burned with fury, "I _warned_ you Kinomoto, and now I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

Sakura took another step back as she watched Meiling raise a hand to her chest, pulling a strange looking amulet out from under the blouse she wore. The dark Chinese symbols upon it twinkled in the night before Meiling's hand firmly closed around it, holding it tightly before her.

"Meiling-" Sakura started, eyes darting to the object in the other girl's hand and back to Meiling's hateful gaze, "What are you doing?"

The wind was beginning to pick up, and Sakura wrapped her arms around herself to keep a chill from running down her spine. Something wasn't right…what was that that Meiling held in her hand, and why did the air suddenly feel thick with magic? A dark glow surrounded Meiling, glowing brighter and brighter as the wind blew more furiously.

"Meiling! Stop it!" Sakura cried over the sound of the wind whipping around her, her voice lost to the other girl.

The glow suddenly engulfed Meiling's hand, and a moment later the amulet seemed to extend, its red glow growing brighter and brighter. Sakura could do nothing but watch, eyes wide as she stared in fear and confusion. As the light finally dimmed until it flickered out, Sakura gazed at the object in Meiling's hand, her eyes widening even further.

"Come on, Kinomoto. Let's see how good your sword skills are, shall we?" Meiling smirked, drawing her awesome sword in front of her, its sharp metallic blade glinting in the moonlight.

It was then Sakura realized how much trouble she was in.

-----

"This is nice," Tomoyo sighed contentedly, laying her head against Eriol's shoulder as she melted into his arms. The slow song had been playing for a few minutes now, and she was finally getting over her shock of suddenly being pulled out onto the dance floor with a song dedicated to her and her boyfriend. She was finally relaxing, enjoying the soft tune being played in the background.

Eriol raised his hand a little higher, raising it from the small of her back to play with her soft hair. She giggled in response, and he smiled, though at the moment she couldn't see his face. Scanning the room as they moved, Eriol raised a brow as he spotted Syaoran near the window. _What's he still doing here? He's supposed to be looking for my Card Mistress!_

Tomoyo must have noticed how his hand had suddenly stopped and he tensed, for she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Syaoran's still where we left him…"

Tomoyo frowned, pulling back so that she could look up into his face, gazing at him before she followed the direction that he was looking in. Blinking, she spotted Syaoran...though it seemed he wasn't alone. "How cute! He's dancing with Rika!"

"He's supposed to be out looking for Sakura."

Tomoyo gasped – with her boyfriend's loving arms around her, she'd totally forgotten about Sakura! She was about to pull away from him and march over to Syaoran when Eriol gripped her upper arm. Looking back at him, she saw him shake his head and pull her towards him. She didn't protest, but raised an eyebrow in question.

"It would be rude to interrupt," Eriol whispered in her ear. "Besides, this dance can't go on too much longer. I'm sure Sakura's fine."

"But Eriol-" She tried to move away from again, and if by magic, the music stopped and couples started to clap as the lead singer bowed.

"Thank you!" She winked at the couple, "Hope you liked the song!"

Eriol have a wave and a nod to indicate that they did, and the band started to play a song with a faster beat. Eriol finally let go of Tomoyo, who instead, grabbed him by the hand and pulled him off the dance floor and in Syaoran's direction.

Halfway across Eriol suddenly felt his skin prickle, and his eyes narrowed as his gaze darted around the room. Somewhere close by someone was using powerful magic…

"Tomoyo, where's Meiling?" He suddenly asked, still looking about the room.

His girlfriend shrugged. "I haven't seen her since the song started…" She saw his serious look, saw how he was searching the room for something. "Eriol?"

"Come on," He started pulling her towards Syaoran at a fast pace, "I'm afraid something's wrong! We _must_ find Sakura!"

Tomoyo gripped his hand tightly, hurrying to keep up with him as they practically ran through the dancing people in the direction they'd last seen Syaoran. However, when they finally got there, he was nowhere to be found.

Looking around frantically, Tomoyo spotted Rika off to the side, and running up to her, she gripped the other girl by the shoulder and turned her so that Rika was facing her.

Seeing her friend's worried look, Rika asked, "Tomoyo? Is something wrong?"

"Where did Syaoran go?" Tomoyo asked, slightly out of breath.

"I don't know," Rika told her, "He took off as soon as the song ended – didn't even say goodbye! He just kind of ran out of here…"

"Which direction did he go?"

Rika pointed in the direction of the back door, the one that lead to the back yard of Eriol's house.

"Thanks!" She said, turning around to look for Eriol. He was nowhere to be seen.

This is great…first Sakura disappears, and now Eriol! What next!? 

-----

"Fight me!" Meiling screamed in a rage, swinging her sword down at Sakura for what seemed like the hundredth time. Sakura barely dodged, landing hard on her knees as she struggled to get away from the other girl.

"Meiling!" Sakura stood on shaky legs, nervously watching the other girl advance towards her, "Don't!"

Another swing of the sword, this time more closer to her head. Sakura ducked, but in the light of the moon she could see three silver stands of her hair fall to the ground. _Damn that thing is sharp!_

"Please, I don't want to fight you!" She yelled, stumbling away from Meiling.

"Too bad!" Another swing, "Bring fourth your sword and fight me!"

The sound of tearing could be heard, and Sakura glanced down at her shirt to find it ripped across her stomach, a small line of blood starting to form. _And she certainly knows how to use that thing too!_

"I'll teach you to interfere with my love life!" Meiling hissed, and swung her blade once again, this time hitting Sakura across the arm. The Clow Mistress cried out in pain, grabbing her injured arm with her other one, wincing as she stared up at the enraged girl before her.

She's going to kill me… 

"Fight!" Meiling screamed, and Sakura just only managed to get out of the way as Meiling brought her sword down. It dug cleanly into the earth, glinting deadly in the light. Breathing heavily, Meiling glared at Sakura, her hands tightly gripping her sword as she pulled it out of the ground.

If I don't fight her…she'll kill me… 

Another swing. Another cut.

Sakura stared at Meiling, tears in her eyes. She'd refused to fight at first, but at this rate Meiling would slice her to pieces! She still didn't want to, but…

Pulling her chain away from her neck in one quick gesture, she spoke hurriedly, "Oh Key of Clow, Power of magic, Power of light...Surrender the wand, The force ignite!...Release!" A glowing light surrounded her and within her hands she now held her Sealing Wand.

Meiling stopped her attack, grinning wickedly as Sakura held the wand in front of her. "I see you're starting to see things my way!" She laughed, lifting her sword, "But that stupid wand isn't going to save you!"

Sakura smirked in response. "No, but this will!" And with one swift movement she pulled the one and only Card that she had taken that night, the one Card that Syaoran had given her. The Sword Card. Raising it into the air she yelled, "Sword Card! Release and dispell!"

Meiling watched in amusement as Sakura's wand started to glow and change. When the light died down Sakura was no longer holding a wand, but a sharp sword. "Impressive, but do you have the skills to beat me?"

Sakura held the sword in front of her for protection. "Please don't make me do this Meiling!"

Meiling held her sword in one hand, lifting the other and moving her fingers in the moonlight, beckoning Sakura forward. "Come on Kinomoto, show me what you've got!" With that, the raven haired girl lunged forward, sword held high.

Sakura held her ground, unsure of what she should do. She'd never used a sword before, and she certainly didn't want to hurt the girl in front of her – so what was she going to do? Tilting it in front of her in hopes that it would protect her somewhat, Sakura forced herself to keep her eyes open as Meiling swung her sword at her.

The sound of metal clashing, and Sakura realized she was staring into Meiling's burning eyes.

"Is that it?" Meiling spat, sliding her sword against Sakura's so that more metallic sounds filled the air. "This is sad, really! Coming from the supposed Clow Mistress!"

Sakura gritted her teeth, struggling against the weight of Meiling's sword on her own. Meiling finally backed away, searching out Sakura's weak points as she brought her sword up to strike again. This time Sakura was ready, and raising her own sword, she met Meiling's half way.

It continued that way. Meiling attacking, Sakura defending herself and not once bringing her sword up to strike the other girl. The clink of metal, the flash of blazing red eyes, the flashes in the moonlight…it seemed to continue forever, and Sakura quickly grew tired of it.

"I'm going to win – you do know that, right, Kinomoto?" Meiling laughed, "Syaoran will see just how much I love him, how strong I am to defeat the Card Mistress, and he'll take me back! And I'll never leave him again…we shall be married, and I will live happily ever after!"

"You're crazy, Meiling." Sakura hissed as she blocked another swing, struggling to hold onto her sword even though she was beyond tired.

"Crazy in love," Meiling smirked wickedly in response, raising her sword in what Sakura knew would be the last strike. When Meiling brought it down, it hit Sakura's sword hard, and unable to hold on any longer, she watched in defeat as it flew out of her hands and landed on the cold ground near the fountain near the entrance of the clearing they're been fighting in.

Sakura sank to her knees, exhausted and breathing heavily.

"So this is it, huh?" Said Meiling, "The almighty Card Mistress was brought down by a mere girl with no magic skills what so ever." She shifted her sword from hand to hand, "Defeated, once and for all."

Sakura stared at the ground silently, wondering what was going to happen next. Was it all over now? Was Meiling happy with beating her, or would she finish the job she'd started and kill her? Seeing a glint out of the corner of her eye, Sakura realized Meiling was raising her sword once more. She closed her eyes tight, not wanting to see what was going to happen next.

With a gleeful laugh Meiling brought her sword down, and Sakura could hear it slicing through the air just before it would strike her. She clenched her eyes more tightly together, waiting for the deadly blow.

It never came.

Opening one eye, Sakura glanced up curiously, wondering what had happened, and for a moment she panicked. She couldn't see Meiling anywhere – but then she realized it was because someone was standing in between them. Someone tall, well dressed with chestnut brown hair.

"Syaoran?" She let go of the breath she had been holding.

Syaoran Li stood in between the two girls, his sword held tightly in his hands as he blocked Meiling's last deadly strike. The ruby eyed girl was staring up at him with wide eyes, unable to believe that her fiancé was standing in front of her protecting Sakura.

"Meiling, what the hell do you think you're _doing_?" He asked coldly.

The dazed girl blinked, her grip on her sword loosening. With a smile she let it fall to the ground, and unnoticed, it transformed back into the amulet that she had around her neck earlier. "Syaoran! You're here!" She said brightly.

"Answer my question Meiling!" He snapped at her, still holding his sword in front of him threateningly.

Meiling tilted her head, glancing at Sakura before looking back at him. "Nothing much. Was just taking care of a little problem…showing Kinomoto her place." A grin spread across her face, "I beat her, you know! She's a wimp! I'm much stronger than her!"

Syaoran glanced over his shoulder at Sakura, looking her over. "Are you okay?"

She ignored the pain in her stomach, arm and everywhere else Meiling had managed to get her, including the small cut across her right cheek. "I'll be fine…"

"SAKURA!" Cried a voice, and the trio looked up as Tomoyo and Eriol ran into the clearing. Upon seeing Sakura, Tomoyo gasped in shock. "Sakura! What happened!?"

Sakura opened her mouth to answer, but before she could speak Syaoran said, "Meiling attacked her."

Tomoyo looked at Meiling, her mouth opened in shock. "Meiling! How could you!"

Suddenly growing angry again, Meiling yelled, "She deserved it!"

Ignoring Meiling's ranting, Tomoyo went over to Sakura, looking over her injuries as Eriol helped her to her feet.

"Come on," He put her arm around his shoulder to help her walk, "I have some bandages in the house. Tomoyo will fix you up right nice. She's good with stuff like that."

Sakura nodded, wincing as Tomoyo touched her arm, pulling at the shirt so that she could get a better look at Sakura's injuries.

"It doesn't look too bad. Most of these cuts aren't even deep." She looked up, giving Sakura a comforting smile, "They'll heal in no time, and they won't even leave any scars!"

Sakura forced a smile, letting Eriol lead her away towards the house. Glancing over her shoulder, she found Syaoran watching her from where he still stood, sword in hand, in front of Meiling. He caught her gaze and held it, though soon the trio disappeared into the trees of the large garden and could no longer be seen. Even then, he stared at the spot he had last seen her, his sword finally lowering.

"Syaoran?" Meiling asked quietly, taking a step forward.

He raised a hand to stop her, unable to look at her. "This is unforgivable, Meiling. This," He indicated to the trampled and somewhat bloody grass, "Is disgusting! I can't even look at you!" With each word he raised his voice, "I can't believe you would do something like this! If I hadn't had stepped in, you would have _killed_ her!"

"No I wouldn't have!" Meiling protested, "I was just trying to scare her away!"

Syaoran shook his head, "Unforgivable!" His sword returned to being the amulet he usually wore around his neck as he bent down to pick up Sakura's lost and forgotten sword. He looked at it, continuing to shake his head. "When I get home, I'm calling Mother. This engagement is _off_!"

"What!?" Meiling stepped forward, "No! Syaoran! You can't do that! You _promised_ me!"

"Just wait until the family hears about this…how you used your gift to harm an innocent girl!" He glared at her moonlit shadow on the ground, still refusing to look at her. Finally, he turned around and started to walk off, carrying Sakura's sword in his hands.

It's a good thing I gave her the Sword Card…if I hadn't, she would have been long dead by the time I found her. 

Behind him frantic cries filled the air. "Syaoran! Don't do this to me!"

"You did this to yourself, Meiling!"

Standing alone in the clearing, Meiling fell to her knees staring at the ground, her eyes misted over with tears. She'd been beyond jealous and had let her hatred consume her…and now she was paying the price.

To Be Continued…


	21. Breakdown

All That She Is

Chapter Twenty - Breakdown

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Sorry for the long delay. I've forever been waiting for my new computer to come in, and now that it's finally here, so is the next update :P Sorry it's not that long – I just wanted to get this in. R&R, and enjoy.

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

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_She stood with the wind blowing her hair, rustling the strange costume she was wearing as she looked out over the dark city. It was night, the stars above glowing brightly, though there was no moon in the sky. Standing on top of a building, she could see everything, and for a moment, she didn't even question what she was doing up so high. Slowly, reality sunk in._

What…what's going on?_ Sakura thought, her gaze still trained straight ahead. _Where am I?_ A sudden cold breeze blew by and she went to cross her arms in hopes it would give her some warmth. She began to panic when she realized her arms would not move, no matter how hard she tried. _Why can't I move!?__

_Suddenly all thoughts left her as she realized she was standing on top of a high building, staring across a great distance at an odd shaped tower. If she looked hard enough she could see it was red, and it was lit up by many lights. She'd never seen the building before in her life._

_Sakura's body took a step forward, startling her, as she stopped very near the edge and caught a glimpse of the streets below. A flash of light caught her attention, and once again she found herself staring at the red tower, though this time it was different. A figure cast in light floated before it, and though she couldn't see who it was she could tell it was holding a hand out as if calling to her._

_"I've been waiting for you," came a whispered voice upon the wind, sending shivers down Sakura's spine. "Come fourth."_

_Sakura was about to take another step, going as far as to lifting her foot and moving it into thin air as she prepared to go to the figure – even though she was about to take a step off the building and plunge to her death._

_"Stop."__ A firm voice said behind her, and immediately her body froze. Sakura wondered who was behind her, for she couldn't turn around to get a look. The voice continued, though she knew whoever it was was now talking to the white figure, "She's not ready. She cannot go to you yet."_

_"You're wasting my time, girl." Said the floating figure, "Capture the rest of the Cards, for I am tired of waiting."_

_"She will do it in her own time," The voice said behind her, "Do not rush her."_

_"Stay out of this." The floating figure said harshly, "This is between me and the girl."_

_"She cannot come to you until she is ready." The voice behind her insisted._

_Sakura struggled to move, to turn her head to at least see who was behind her. Her body wouldn't move, and she found that she couldn't even take her eyes off the figure floating near the tower._

_"Sakura," the figure moved, white hands coming out and beckoning to her. "Come to me."_

_Sakura took a step forward against her will, and her foot came down on empty air as she stepped off the side of the building. She felt herself fall, the wind blowing at her clothes. From somewhere above her a voice called out to her, but she couldn't look up. She was still paralyzed, falling to her doom, and the silvery white figure still hovered next to the tower, its arms still extended._

"Sakura!"

She sat up abruptly, nearly colliding with another dark figure as she took in her room, realizing that it had all been a dream. She wasn't falling – she was safe at home in her bed. Her breathing slowed as her panic disappeared, only to quicken when she realized she wasn't alone. In one fast movement she reached over and flipped on the lamp next to her bed, her hands coming back to grip her  blankets tightly.

A familiar figure was standing next to her bed, his dark eyes watching her worriedly as her mind started to lift out of her sleepy haze. He was dressed in his usual green garb, the one he wore when fighting and capturing Cards, and his chestnut hair was falling in his face. Quietly, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair.

"Li, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, her gaze turning to the clock next to her bed. It was past twelve in the night – Eriol and Tomoyo had only brought her home just a few hours earlier.

Syaoran shifted uncomfortably before reaching for something by his side. He held it out for her and she stared at it a few minutes before she realized what it was. "I brought this back for you," he told her, looking away into the darkness of the room.

Sakura took it from him, their fingers meeting briefly before he pulled his hands away. Sakura looked down at her wand, which was still transformed into a sword, and the past night's events came flooding back to her. _Meiling__ attacked me…I tried to fend her off but…Syaoran saved me…_ She looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you."

Again with the uncomfortableness as Syaoran looked everywhere but at her, and a faint blush stained his cheeks, though she couldn't see it in the dimly lit room. "Yeah well," he muttered, "I kind of owed it to you to return it." He finally looked at her, managing to look emotionless, "Look, Kinomoto, I'm sorry about Meiling…"

"It's alright," Sakura interrupted him, looking down. "Meiling felt threatened and hurt, that's why she did what she did."

"You're not mad at her?" Syaoran raised a brow at this, staring at the girl before him in disbelief.

"No," Sakura shook her head with a small smile.

Syaoran gave her a confused look before crossing his arms, turning away from her. "You're way too forgiving, Kinomoto."

Sakura looked at him, seeing his back turned to her. _So it's back to using last names_, she smiled bitterly. He'd called her by her first name for the first time ever, just only a few hours ago, though it seemed like it had all happened days ago now. She's been about to walk away from him, angry at him for using her to get to Meiling – but she'd heard him. He'd called her Sakura, and it had just sounded…_right_…coming from his lips.

Breaking out of her thoughts, Sakura glanced over up at him, her mouth open to speak – only to find that he had disappeared. The room was empty, the only noise coming from Kero, who was quietly snoring in his drawer, and the flutter of curtains from the open window. She stared at the window for a few minutes before getting out of bed, shivering as her feet touched the cold floor, and walked across the room to close the window.

-----

The apartment was empty and silence hung like death in the air. Meiling sat on the dark leather couch, staring at the cup of coffee in her hands. She'd been sitting like that ever since she'd walked home, waiting for Syaoran to come home. She wanted to talk to him, even if he was only going to yell at her.

Shifting the mug from one hand to the other, she mentally decided that she wasn't going to drink the contents of the cup. It had long ago gotten cold, and the only reason she was still holding onto it was because she was too numb to move, too hurt to look anywhere but at her reflection in the dark substance staring back at her.

A knock on the door startled her, and her cup dropped to the floor with a smash. Small glass shards scattered everywhere, and the brown liquid seeped into the expensive rug that was on the floor. She paid no attention to it as she leapt to her feet, running to the door to unlock it in a hurry.

"Syaoran?" She swung the door open, looking beyond it expectantly. All hope left her as she stared at the dark haired female on the other side of the door, still dressed in the clothes she had worn earlier that night.

"Meiling, may I come in?" Tomoyo asked softly, looking at the mess the other girl was in.

Meiling said nothing, but left the door open as she returned to her seat on the couch. Tomoyo followed after her, being sure to close the door behind her. Taking a seat across from Meiling, Tomoyo stared down at the mess on the floor.

A few minutes of silence before Tomoyo finally asked, "Remember that time back in elementary school? You were trying to impress the guys by jumping off the swing set at the highest you could push yourself. You ended up getting caught up in the chains and dragged through the sand. You tried hard not to cry, but I knew you wanted to. I helped you to the nurse's office, and I stayed with you until she was finished. Remember that night? I invited you over and we ate fudge brownies and we laughed at it like nothing happened."

Meiling glanced at her, but said nothing.

"Those were the days," Tomoyo sighed as she remembered, "We used to be inseparable; the best of friends. Tell me, Meiling…what happened? What happened since those years that's changed us so much?" She turned towards the other girl, "What happened to our friendship?"

Meiling mumbled something that sounded a lot like, "We changed. We grew up."

"I think _you're_ the one who changed, Meiling," Tomoyo replied. "Ever since you entered high school it's been a competition to be the best. You were always like that, but it seemed you took it a step further. _You're_ what caused our friendship to break. You started hanging around with the wrong crowd, your marks went down, you started making fun of everyone and putting them all down…including me."

Meiling frowned, suddenly turning on the other girl with a glare. "Where are you going with all of this?" She snapped, "I don't want to remember any of that stuff, and I certainly don't need you here trying to be my friend!"

"Meiling, I_ am_ your friend – I always _will_ be," Tomoyo stated quietly. "I care about what happens to you, despite the fact that we don't exactly get along anymore."

"Yeah? Well you can just stop!" Meiling got up now, clearly growing angry. Bending down, she began to gather up the shards of glass on the floor. Tomoyo laid a hand on her shoulder, trying her best to get through to her old friend.

"Meiling-"

Meiling jumped at the touch, dropping the shards in her hand. They fell back to the floor, but not before one cut open her hand. She stared as the blood dripped from her hand and into the carpet.

Silence. Then, "I remember."

Tomoyo stared at the other girl, confused, and somewhat worried. Meiling's cut continued to bleed, though the girl didn't seem to see it. Her eyes were unfocused now, as if she was staring past her raised hand. "Meiling, come on," Tomoyo began to pull the girl up off the floor, "We need to bandage that."

Meiling shrugged her off. "I wanted so badly to impress Syaoran…I wanted to be the most popular girl in school. I wanted him to like me, so I tried my best to change so that I would stand out. I became…what I am…and then we started dating, and I thought that I had changed to his liking. But I wanted more – I wanted him to love me and only me, so I broke it off with him in hopes he'd become jealous and want me even more."

"But it didn't work."

Meiling looked up at her, and Tomoyo realized that the girl had been crying silently. Getting down on her knees, Tomoyo embraced her old friend, comforting her. Meiling reluctantly returned the gesture, burying her head in Tomoyo's arm as she wept.

"I blew it, Tomoyo!" She cried, "Syaoran hates me!"

Tomoyo said nothing, just rubbed the other girl's back as Meiling continued to cry.

To Be Continued…


	22. Gaining Energy

All That She Is

Chapter Twenty One – Gaining Energy

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Sorry this chapter is so short. It's actually sort of an interlude, because after this we're going to be skipping some time. I've been dragging out the first few weeks of school too long, and its time we moved foreword with the fic. Don't worry though, because there's still a helluva lot more to go. We won't be skipping _that_ much time, anyway. Sorry for the lack of Sakura and co in this chapter as well. More of them in the next chapter though. Oh, and yes, Yukito seems pretty evil in this chapter. I don't have much to say about that, though I _do_ have one question. Would anyone be angry with me if I added in some Touya/Yukito/Yue side romance in future chapters? Let me know, because I'd _really_ like to do this, but I don't want to scare anyone away who's not into that type of thing.

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

----------

The room was dark, a flaring fire lit in the fireplace giving off the only bit of light and heat. Across from the fire sitting in a chair sat Eriol, whom was staring into the fiery depths with a look of great thought. There was a crack as one of the newer logs in the fire started to crackle and burn, but Eriol paid no attention to any of it. He stared straight ahead into the fire, not even bringing himself to blink.

_He tried to get to her,_ his mind was a mess of questions and realizations. He'd sensed the moon guardian's power earlier, and using what power he had been left from Clow Reed, Eriol had managed to transfer his consciousness across the city and into Sakura's dreams. It hadn't been an easy task, but he had done it. Now he felt drained.

"Eriol-san." A voice came from somewhere close, and Eriol didn't have to look to know that Spinal Sun was stretched out on the arm chair, his head in a book.

"Yes?"

"We discussed the possibility before, but do you think he really is awake? Isn't it impossible?" The small cat asked, looking up at his master.

"I felt him, Spinal," Eriol replied, his eyes still in the fire. "When I went into Sakura's dream, he was calling to her. There's no other possible way for him to do that unless he's awakened."

"Then Yue is indeed awakened then?" Spinal Sun followed his master's gaze, looking at the flickering flames.

"He's growing impatient," Eriol told the small cat like creature, "He wants the new Clow Mistress to hurry and he's starting to push her. If she does not collect all the cards before he comes for her…"

"But this is impossible!" Spinal protested, "He shouldn't even be aware of himself! Not until he is called upon for the judgment!"

"He is, and he wishes to judge Sakura soon." Eriol sighed, finally lowering his gaze as he pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "At this rate, everything's going to end up a disaster. I don't even know where Yue is getting enough energy to exist as he is. When I was Clow Reed, he drew his powers from the cards and I. Now he has nowhere to get enough power to even exist," Eriol shook his head, "He can't draw any power from Sakura until she's caught them all and changed them."

Spinal tilted his head. "That's strange. Is there anywhere else he could be getting it, anyone he could be drawing it from?"

Eriol shook his head, for once, looking lost. "Hopefully Ruby Moon will be able to tell us something in time."

"I'm hommeee!" A female voice called through the halls, a slight echo sounding afterwards.

"Speak of the devil," Spinal said dryly as Nakuru entered the room, her jacket slung over one shoulder. With a twirl of her hand the jacket fell to the floor and she had transformed back into Ruby Moon, her wings brilliant even in the dim light.

Eriol looked at her for a moment, one brow raised. "Well?"

She blinked. "Well what?"

From beside him, Spinal sighed and shook his head. "How'd it go?"

Ruby Moon tilted her head to one side. "It went well. We saw some stupid movie," she yawned, fanning herself with one hand, "It was boring. I almost fell asleep."

"Did you keep a close eye on Yue's human form?" Eriol questioned.

"Of course, that's what you sent me to do, wasn't it?" She replied, huffing as she continued, "You know, keeping up the lovesick crazy schoolgirl act isn't easy!"

"If acting like an idiot keeps Yue away from Sakura and her family, then you must do what you must," the smallest guardian said, earning a glare from the pink haired woman.

"Hey! I did what I was told!" She crossed her arms, "I tagged along to the stupid movie, managed to squeeze in and sit between Touya and Yukito. I even tried to hold the human's hand and I conned him into buying me some popcorn!"

"You obviously didn't do your job quite good enough," retorted the smaller guardian. "Yue came to Sakura in her dreams."

"What??" Ruby Moon almost yelled, a look of disbelief on her face. "That's impossible! I was with Yukito the whole time! He didn't leave the theater once!"

"Are you sure?" Eriol finally spoke, gazing up at his trusted guardian. Ruby Moon would never lie, he knew that, but perhaps Yue had left  for only a moment and she hadn't noticed?

Ruby Moon uncrossed her arms, letting them fall to her side as she looked at her master. With a nod she said, "I was watching him the whole time. Besides, he fell asleep in his chair halfway through the movie and we even had trouble waking him up when the movie was over."

"That's it!" Eriol whispered harshly as he got to his feet and started to pace before the fire. Startled, both guardians stared at him in question. "He was able to get to Sakura in her dreams because he was asleep as well!" Eriol said in realization, "This makes things a lot clearer!"

"So Yue can get to Sakura when they're both asleep?" Ruby Moon asked, still puzzled. "But…where does he get the energy to do that?"

Eriol shook his head as he paced. "I still haven't quite figured that one out. Eating and resting should certainly give him enough energy to sustain himself for a short period of time, but to do what he's doing…he'd have to be drawing power some somewhere."

"Is there anyone in Tomoeda he can be drawing energy off of?" Spinal questioned, "Anyone other than Sakura?"

"Possibly…but I don't know who would have enough extra energy to support Yue," Eriol admitted, slumping back down in his chair. Looking to Ruby Moon he said, "I want you to double your efforts. I want to know Yue's every move."

Ruby Moon bowed, accepting her master's task.

-----

It was still late out, well past two in the morning as Touya stopped in front of Yukito's house, having just dropped Nakuru where she had told him to. Turning the key in the ignition, he shut off the car as he looked up the steps to his friend's house, finally glancing at Yukito in the passenger's seat.

"Well, here you are," he said. "Home at last."

Yukito turned his head towards him, his ever present smile in place. "Thanks for the ride."

"Hey, no problem," Touya shrugged it off. "Did you enjoy the movie?" He suddenly laughed, "I can tell you how it ended if you want, since you fell asleep halfway through it."

"It wasn't my kind of thing," Yukito responded. _And I had other things to attend to._

"Hey, it's alright. I probably would have fallen asleep myself if it hadn't been for Nakuru's death grip on my arm." Touya shook his head, "I really don't understand what's up with that girl."

_Neither do I, but I intend to find out_, Yue's voice sounded through Yukito's head, and he looked out the passenger's side window. "She's odd, but she seems like a nice girl," he lied.

Touya nodded, and there was a moment of silence before he said, "It's getting late, I wonder if Sakura made it home alright."

"I'm sure she's fine," Yukito smirked inwardly, though his mind was somewhat troubled. Who had been that boy that had come to Sakura's defense in her dream? There was something about him that made him seem all too familiar…

"I should probably get home and check on her," Touya responded.

"You should," Yukito agreed, and before Touya could blink Yukito had transformed, his hair a long silvery white and his robes a matching color of white and purple. Two angel like wings had sprouted out of his back, and as Yukito leaned across and lifted a hand to Touya's face, Touya couldn't help but shiver. "But first…" this new form of Yukito whispered, his hand trailing down Touya's face.

Touya's eyes closed as a silvery blue light started to shimmer around him, and suddenly his mind went blank. Yukito smiled, his eyes never leaving the other man as he 'burrowed' some energy from the strange man that had become his friend in the past few weeks.

_Who would have known that the Clow Mistress' brother would hold such power?_ He smiled, his eyes closing as well as he felt the energy drain from Touya into himself. _While the ability to see and talk to dead people may be useful, your power has been even more useful to me, dear Touya._

Once he had gained enough to last a few more days, Yukito let his hand drop to his side, transforming back into his human form. Faking a concerned look, Yukito shoved Touya's shoulder in attempt to wake him.

"Touya! Are you okay?"

The other man blinked his eyes open, looking disoriented as he looked over at Yukito. "Huh?"

"You must be tired, you nodded off," Yukito told him, knowing the other man didn't remember anything that had just happened.

Looking around, Touya shook his head tiredly. Now that he thought about it, he did suddenly feel very tired. "Must have."

"I should go so that you can get home and get some sleep," Yukito smiled at him. _I need you to get lots of rest so that I can borrow your energy whenever I feel myself fading, he thought smugly to himself._ He grabbed the door handle, opening it and stepping out of the car. "Good night!"

"Good night," Touya replied, shaking his head once more as he started the car and drove off.

Yukito stood there for a few minutes more, watching as Touya disappeared into the darkness of the night. "And thanks for the energy!" He called with an amused voice, knowing that the other man wouldn't hear him.

With a satisfied smirk upon his face he went into the house.

To Be continued…


	23. Voices

All That She Is

Chapter Twenty Two - Voices

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes – Wow, I bet some of you are amazed that I updated so quickly, huh? Well I opened this to work on it a bit today, and this chapter just kind of flowed out of my fingers. So, here I bring you chapter twenty two! :P Enjoy!

Author's Notes # 2 – Okay, it's time to answer some reviews, though I'm not going to go through them all and answer every single one of them. I'm just going to have a say on some things. A while ago someone asked me to hurry up with the Syaoran and Sakura romance. As much as that would be fun and great and all, I feel no need to rush it. I'm one of those people who enjoy get-together fics, so don't expect them to get together right away. In fact, Syaoran and Sakura still have a long way to go before they get together. And remember, there's still the bet. They won't be getting together for a long time – probably the last chapter of this fic, and I don't even know how long I plan to stretch out his fic. Second, some of you still hate Meiling. That's fine, but she's no longer going to be the 'bad guy', so you might as well just forgive her :P She's going to start getting more fic time within the next few chapters. Yue is evil, yes – if you want to put it that way, I guess. You must remember that he wasn't exactly too thrilled at first with Sakura being his new Mistress in the anime, and he's going to be harsh towards her in this fic. Someone said he was OOC in the last chapter, and that's good. That's why this is an AU fic – almost all the characters are OOC. Plus he's frustrated that Sakura is still catching Cards, that he's awoken before his time, and the fact that he doesn't have anyone with enough power to support him. You may also notice that in this fic, Yukito and Yue are basically the same person, while in the anime they both have their own thoughts, emotions, ect. As for what was in my author's notes in my last chapter, I want to thank everyone who actually took the time to read it and review. I'm quite possibly going to add in some Yukito/Touya/Yue romance in future chapters – if this is going to scare you away, that's fine. I'm going by Card Captor Sakura (Though I wrote Eriol/Tomoyo when in the anime there's next to nothing that would ever hint to these two getting together…I just wanted to keep it all in the group and Eriol/Tomoyo would be pretty cute together ;), _not_ the dubbed Cardcaptors, and anyone who's watched the anime knows that Touya and Yukito are really close, if you know what I mean.

Pairings – Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo, possible Touya/Yukito

Summary – Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

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The next few weeks passed by rather fast, a strange awkwardness settling between the friends. After the night of the party and visiting Sakura to return her transformed wand, Syaoran had kept his distance from the Mistress of the Clow. Sakura had realized his intentions of keeping away, and though it pained her slightly, she accepted his wishes and tried her best to keep out of his way as well.

As for Meiling, not much was heard from her after that night either. While in class, she had become uncharacteristically quiet, keeping her attention on the work that was given to her, though she had a habit of glancing up from her desk at Syaoran every now and then. Every time her eyes fell upon him she would get a pained look upon her face, her eyes misting over before she turned her face away.

Tomoyo and Eriol carried on as though nothing was any different, although they both knew better. It seemed like their group was falling apart, and things were complicated at the moment. Eriol was, for once in his life, confused and at a loss as to what to do concerning his new Clow Mistress and Yue, while Tomoyo was torn between her friends, mainly Sakura and Meiling.

Life was being cruel to them all.

Gazing down at her English paper, Sakura absently chewed on the end of her pencil, nibbling at the eraser as she thought. Though English wasn't her best subject, she liked it to some degree. Usually she was happy to be in English class learning the different language, but lately the things bothering her kept her mind too busy to even think about doing school work.

_Halloween is coming up_, she thought with an inward sigh, letting her pencil drop to the desk. It was hard to believe that she'd been in school for almost two months now. Turning her head slightly, she gazed over her shoulder at her friends who were working hard on their papers. Catching sight of Syaoran working hard behind her, she snapped her gaze back to her desk. _Things have certainly fallen apart_, she thought with a sad smile. Syaoran refused to talk to her, Meiling no longer even acknowledged her, and Tomoyo and Eriol…

Sakura glanced over at her dark haired friend, who looked up when she noticed the auburn haired girl glancing her way. Tomoyo smiled at her before looking back down at her work, her pencil scribbling away on the paper in front of her.

Yes, awkward was the word that seemed to describe everything lately.

Turning her attention back to her own paper, Sakura sighed aloud this time, letting her head drop into her hands in frustration. She didn't feel like doing work – she just felt like getting up and screaming! She wanted things to be back to normal! Okay, so maybe not _normal_…because in her life, nothing was exactly normal. Especially when she lived with the guardian best of the Clow Book and had vowed to collect the missing Cards, which she had lost upon opening the book so long ago.

Rubbing at her tired eyes with the palm of her hands, she let her head sink down into arms, her eyes closing momentarily. Her life was a sudden chaos – not that it hadn't been before, with the Cards and all. But after moving to Tomoeda, she had to add crazy mixed up feelings for her rival and enemy to her plate, a raging vicious fiancée, strange dreams of buildings and a glowing white figure…

Sakura blinked her eyes open, staring ahead as she suddenly remembered the dream. After she had awoken to find Syaoran at her bed side, she hadn't given the dream another thought until today. She'd completely put it out of her mind, forgetting all about it until now. Though it shouldn't have bothered her – it wasn't like it was one of her prophetic dreams, right? She'd only had it once – she couldn't shake the feeling it had brought her.

_It was strange_, she frowned into the sleeve of her uniform, I've _never had a dream like that. I wonder who that glowing figure was…I couldn't see his face properly. How did he know about the Cards, anyway? _She shrugged it off, feeling a tingling sensation working its way up her spine. The dream had scared her somewhat, and now she realized why she had forced it out of her mind. She didn't want to think about it.

With a groan, Sakura raised her eyes to the clock at the front of the classroom. She almost gasped when she saw what time it was, and sitting up straight, she grabbed for her pencil. School was almost over for the day and she still wasn't even finished her paper!

-----

Strapping on the roller blades that she'd worn to school for every day since before she could remember, Sakura waved to Rika and Naoko as they passed, pausing in their conversation as they waved back and smiled. "See you tomorrow Sakura!"

Sakura grinned in response with a curt nod, her hair falling into her face as she finished strapping her roller blades and set both feet down on the ground. Standing up from the cement wall that she had been sitting on, she slowly bladed across the school yard to the front gates where she waited for her brother to show. It didn't take long, for a few minutes after, he and Yukito rounded the corner. She waved wildly at them.

"Hey kaijuu, what's the excitement about?" Her brother asked, for once opting to walk with his friend instead of riding his bike.

Sakura frowned at his pet name for her and pouted. "I'm not a kaijuu!"

"Of course you are," he replied, ruffling her hair as he passed her, "Only a kaijuu would wave their arms like that in the middle of the street." He teased, "Watch it or you'll scare off the poor elementary kids across the street!"

Sakura huffed, skating after them and keeping up with their pace. On the outside of the sidewalk, she was right next to Yukito, who smiled down at her warmly. "How was your day, Sakura?"

Smiling brightly with a small blush she replied, "It was fine, nothing really interesting happened."

"I see," he responded, the smile never leaving his face. Sakura returned the gesture, her face flushed as she suddenly looked away.

_Yukito is such a nice guy_, she thought with a secret smile, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Bringing a hand up to her chest, she felt her heart beating just a little quicker. She liked Yukito a lot - ever since she had first ran into him on that fateful day she had thought he was a real nice guy – and though she knew she had mixed feelings for Syaoran, she couldn't help but feel attracted to this other man.

Clasping her hands behind her back as she kept the pace, Sakura sighed. Why couldn't she find a nice guy like Yukito? Why did she have conflicting emotions for her _rival_ of all people?

"Something on your mind?" Yukito's voice brought her out of her thoughts, and she gazed up at him. She shook her head.

"Just thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself," Touya responded to this, and Sakura stuck her tongue out at him. Yukito laughed at the siblings, causing Sakura to stop and blush furiously, realizing she was acting childishly. Still, she looked up at him from under her lashes.

_Yukito's__ smart, handsome, caring, and funny…_ She smiled, looking foreword as she skated along, _unlike arrogant, selfish, and confusing Li Syaoran. One minute he's nice, the next he's trying to steal my Cards!_ She nodded to herself, _I could really use a guy like Yukito in my life._

"We're here," Sakura stopped as she realized they were standing in front of Yukito's house, and after saying goodbye, she watched as he made his way up the steps. She watched him for a moment before she realized Touya was still there, and with a grin, she playfully punched him in the shoulder and skated backwards.

"I'll race you home!"

-----

Sakura beat him – it was no completion, really. With her roller blades on she had easily  gotten home before him. Of course, being the first one to enter the house in the afternoon meant that she was the first one who had to deal with Kero's moping. As if on cue, as soon as she opened the door the small teddy bear like creature was before her, moaning that he was hungry.

Sakura grabbed at him, realizing the door was still open and the neighborhood could practically see him. How would she explain a floating 'guardian beast of the seal' to her neighbors? Her eyes wide, she stuffed him out of sight, giving him a scolding. "Kero-chan! Watch it! Someone might have seen you!"

She was about to close the door when she realized Touya had finally caught up to her. With a grin she declared, "I win!"

He ignored her, entering the house and finally shutting the door. Noticing the coast was clear, Kero hovered just above their heads in anticipation – now that they were home, perhaps he'd finally get some of the cake he'd been craving all afternoon!

"You cheated," Touya finally replied once they'd gotten their shoes off, and he made towards the living room.

"So?" she grinned, "Not like you have never done it before." She watched as he slumped down on the couch, reaching for the remote control to the television. She stopped him before he could reach it though, grabbing it and holding it just out of his reach. "And since I won, I'd like for you to do me a favor."

He sighed. "What do you want?"

"Well, I have a lot of homework to do…and tonight's my night for cooking supper." She gave him a pleading look, "Please? I really need to get this done."

He grabbed for the remote, and for a moment she thought he might refuse. He smirked at her though, putting the remote back in its place. "Fine, but you're cooking two nights in a row starting tomorrow night."

"Fine."

"Good!" He got up from the couch, hesitating only when he saw Kero still floating just beyond their reach, his little hands on his stomach as his lips trembled. Pointing upwards, Touya asked, "Does this mean I have to feed him too?"

Sakura sweatdropped. "It would be nice."

Floating down so that he sat upon the older Kinomoto sibling's shoulder, Kero pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "Cake!"

Touya rolled his eyes, shrugging the small creature off his shoulder. "Fine, fluff ball. Whatever you want."

Kero didn't seem to mind the insult, happily following after Touya as he left the living room and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Sakura alone. Once they left she smiled happily at the silence of the room and grabbed for her back pack, taking out her math homework. Taking the book out, she set it down on the table, making herself comfortable on the floor between the couch and table as she opened the book and got out her paper.

After a few minutes of looking at the first page, her expression blank, she sighed and let her head fall to the table with a thump. _Math seemed so much more easier when Syaoran was teaching it to me…_she thought glumly.

Their math tutoring had stopped after that one evening before the Little Card had made its appearance. They were supposed to meet again a week or so later, but after what had happened at the party, and now that Syaoran was ignoring her to the best of his abilities…

Sakura lifted her head again only to let it fall back down on the table, her eyes shut.

_I hate this_, she thought furiously, opening her eyes to glare at the book before her. Her face was so close to the pages that the words were blurred, but that didn't matter. It made just as much sense to her blurred as it did when she could actually see the letters and numbers.

Lifting her head once more and ignoring the clutter of pans in the kitchen, she glared at the book again_. Okay, I have to do this. I can't always have someone around to help me…I have to do this on my own!_

She set to work, trying her best to do her math homework. About an hour later she had finally managed to reach the last question, but her determination to finish the math had failed her somewhere after the third long answer math question. Now, staring blankly at the page, she couldn't help but yawn. Bringing a hand up to her mouth, she closed her eyes as she did so, feeling quite tired now.

_This stuff can put anyone asleep_, she thought, looking back down at the book with lidded eyes. They closed upon their own accord, and she felt her head sagging against the table. She tried to fight sleep off, but she felt exhausted_. I have to…finish…_

_"You have failed to capture any more Cards."A_ voice inside her head, one that she knew from somewhere. Her hazy mind didn't bother to make the connection though, and she let her pencil fall from her hand as she felt sleep starting to claim her. _"My patience is growing thin,"_ the voice continued.

"Who are you?" Sakura murmured.

_"I am the one who will call upon your Judgment,"_ the voice replied.

"Hn," Was all Sakura could say, cuddling into her arms on the table.

_"One that has been chosen to be my new Master, you are running out of time."_

"Time for what?" Sakura asked sleepily.

_"I will be the one who will judge if you are worthy to be the new Clow Mistress."_ His tone was cold, emotionless. _"I will be coming for you soon."_

Though her foggy mind something clicked, all thoughts of peaceful sleep leaving her as she sat up at the table. In her haste she managed to pull her book and papers off the table, and they scattered around her.

"You alright kaijuu?" Asked a masculine voice, and she looked over to see her older brother standing in the doorway with a specula in hand. "I thought I heard you talking to someone."

"I'm fine," she said, her voice just above a whisper as she realized her heart was pounding. "I was talking to myself."

Touya looked at her with an amused expression before he moved off into the kitchen.

_That voice…I remember where I heard it now_, she thought frantically when she knew her brother had left. _It was the voice from my dream…not the one that came from behind me, but the one from the glowing white figure!_ Her eyes widened. _But how can that be…? It was just a dream – the voice I just heard, I was still half awake!_

When Sakura looked up again, Kero was looking at her in concern. She was about to ask him how long he had been there, but before she could open her mouth he sat down on the now empty table and looked up at her with his small black eyes. "You sure you're okay?"

She half shook her head before she stopped. "Actually, no, I'm not."

Kero looked at her, head tilted in question.

"Kero, something strange is going on…"

To Be Continued…


End file.
